Merit and Fellowship Awards

The Merit Awards recognise a significant achievement by our members at any stage in their career and are open to all of our members (excluding students and apprentices). They are often a first step towards a full Fellowship.

The award recognises their contribution to the profession. This may be, but is not limited to, a contribution:

• locally or regionally
• in a specialist field of practice
• in a diverse area of practice.

Anyone you nominate will be recognised by their peers in the occupational therapy community for excellence in their field of work and their special contribution to the profession.

A RCOT Fellowship is the highest honour we can present to our members to recognise exceptional service and outstanding contribution to the profession, and RCOT, over many years.

There are three categories of Fellowship:

Fellowship (for a Professional Member)

You can nominate any occupational therapist who will have been a professional member of RCOT for at least 10 years at the time of the award. 

Fellowship (for an Associate Member)

You can nominate an occupational therapists who will have been an associate member of RCOT for at least 10 years at the time of the award. 

Honorary Fellowship (for a non-member)

You can nominate individuals who are not an occupational therapist or a member of RCOT. They will have made an exceptional contribution to either promote the occupational therapy profession or will have provided distinguished service to RCOT.

We’re keen to increase and promote the diversity within our profession and encourage people from a range of backgrounds to nominate and be nominated for Fellowship and Merit Awards.  

This is a short summary of defining characteristics of those who can be nominated. You can find a more detailed criteria in the guidance documents associated with each of the awards. 

• Fellowship (for a Professional Member)  

Nominations are open to occupational therapists who will have been a Professional Member of RCOT for at least 10 years.  

• Associate Fellowship (for an Associate Member) 

Nominations are open to occupational therapists who will have been an Associate Member of RCOT for at least 10 years.  

• Honorary Fellowship (for a non-member) 

Nominations are open to individuals who are not an occupational therapist or a member of RCOT.  

• Merit Awards 

Nominations are open to RCOT members at any stage in their career (excluding students and apprentices). 

Any current member of RCOT.

Although students and apprentices cannot be nominated, they can submit nominations and get involved with the process.

Yes, they will. A testimony from the nominee is required to complete the nomination.

In addition to the main nominator, each nomination requires an additional two members to support it. However, we can only receive one nomination per nominee.

No, all nominations must be submitted in a typed and electronic format. 

The Fellowship and Merit Awards Committee will ultimately choose the winners of these awards. They’ll decide if they meet the criteria and standards. The committee will give a final recommendation to the BAOT/RCOT Council to approval. The Chair of Council will contact all nominees and the main nominators to let them know the outcome.

All submissions will be recognised on receipt. 

Nominees and main nominators will be informed of the outcome in April 2025.

Those who receive a Fellowship Award will be able to call themselves a ‘Fellow / Associate Fellow / Honorary Fellow of RCOT’.

Winners will be recognised on our website, in our magazine, OTnews, and in a digital publication celebrating excellence at RCOT.

We won’t be able to share information or reasons about why a nomination was or wasn’t approved.

You can contact our RCOT Fellowship and Merit awards team: fellowship.awards@rcot.co.uk or phone us on 020 3141 4600.

• Dr Carolyn Dunford, Reader in Occupational Therapy at Brunel University London
• Professor Nicola Spalding, Professor Emeritus at the University of East Anglia and visiting Professor at Birmingham Newman University

• Adam Ferry – Director of The OT Service and curator of The OT Show conference programme since conception in 2013.
• Alison Keir – Occupational Therapy Team Lead, Older Adults Mental Health Team NHS Forth Valley.
• Dr Blaine Robin – Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett Universityand founder of the International Caribbean Writers Group.
• Dr Charlie Chung – Allied Health Professions Stroke Strategic Lead and consultant occupational therapist in stroke for NHS Lothian.
• Elizabeth Doherty – Occupational Therapist and Co-ordinator of the Condition Management Programme in the Western Health and Social Care Trust.
• Helen Rushton – Occupational Therapist and founding member of #OTalk.
• Janet Nicholson – Advanced Paediatric Occupational Therapist at the Ronnie MacKeith Centre, Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
• Associate Professor Kalimah Ibrahiim – Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy and Programme Director at Buckinghamshire New University.
• Kathryn Leigh Smith – Consultant Occupational Therapist and Director at ASI Wise and the Merlin Neuro Therapy Centre in Cornwall, where she specialises in Sensory Integration and Neurodevelopmental Therapy.
• Odeth Richardson – Head Occupational Therapist at Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals and Chair of Council for RCOT.
• Penny Wosahlo – Managing Director of Think Therapy 1st.
• Robert Workman – Occupational Therapist and local leader in the profession.