Introduction

The History of the Society

The BSCN (formerly the EEG Society) grew out of a group which first met in January 1942 "for an informal discussion among practising electroencephalographers on the technical and clinical aspects of electroencephalography". Quarterly meetings followed, and in 1943 the group became more formerly organised as the Electroencephalographic Society with Professor E.D. Adrian, OM, FRS, as the first President. The society was incorporated in April 1951. It was registered as a charity in 1983. Following a vote of the Society's members it changed its name to the British Society for Clinical Neurophysiology in 1989.

The Society was established to promote and assist the science and practice of electroencephalography, clinical neurophysiology and allied subjects. It hold meetings three time a year in spring summer and autumn, the last being the occasion for the Annual General Meeting. There may in addition be a "theme" meeting in the early summer. It is customary for the autumn meeting to be held in London.

The council of Management of the Society consists of the President, who holds office for three years, the Hon. Secretary, Treasurer and meetings secretary, who hold office for one year but are eligible for re-election, and eight members of the Society elected to serve on the Council for not more than eight years consecutively. In addition, the custom of the Council is to co opt the Society's elected delegate to the International Federation.

If you would like to become a member, please follow this link to the Membership Forms, print it out, complete and send to the Secretary, Dr Robin Kennett (Robin.Kennett@orh.nhs.uk).

The President - Professor Jonathan Cole writes:

I was honoured to be elected to the Presidency at the AGM in October 2005 and look forward to assisting the Society in what look like being some interesting times during my three-year term.

The role of the President includes chairing BSCN Council meetings and jointly chairing our scientific meetings, and giving a general steer to whatever is happening. More recently, however, the BSCN has also become more involved in training. This occurs on a three-year cycle with and through the Association of Trainees in Clinical Neurophysiology. In addition the Society runs the very successful and international, triennial Wadham College Course in Oxford. As continuing professional development for consultants has become more formalised the Society has also become an important channel for this and this role may well increase in future. In addition, our members are scattered throughout the UK and Eire, and the chance to meet to discuss clinical and other matters in our specialty is an important, though difficult to define, part of our remit.

Just as consultants in Clinical Neurophysiology and Clinical Scientists work closely with Clinical Physiologists (technicians/technologists) in their departments, so the BSCN also works closely with the Electrophysiological Technologists Association over matters of mutual interest. The specialty as a whole has found it difficult to recruit staff in some areas of the country and this has led to longer waiting times than we all would like. Our two societies will consider ways forward in this respect in the future.

Five years ago we bid in Argentina to bring the next International Congress in Clinical Neurophysiology to the UK and this is to be held in Edinburgh next year, 10-14 September 2006. With this we demonstrated our commitment to be outgoing and to support the International Federation in Clinical Neurophysiology. Work is well advanced in the social and scientific aspects of the Congress. We hope to be the best possible hosts to our colleagues from round the world, as well as having a large turnout from the UK. We are very keen to support trainees coming to Edinburgh and have arranged a large number of free communications to allow people to speak before the congress as well as two poster sessions per day.

Writing of Council and scientific meetings, training and staff issues; this may all sound a little dry. Yet our speciality is a small one and most people within it soon form friendships lasting years. In that sense the BSCN is a true society. In addition though the President chairs meetings, most of the work is actually done by others, either from Council, our Education Committee or as members co-opted for specific tasks. The enthusiasm of our members in volunteering for these tasks shows the vigour of our Society and makes my task all the more enjoyable.

Lastly we are very fortunate to have one such enthusiastic volunteer, Andrew Weir, running our web site. This is a comparatively new site for us; in future we hope to use it more and more. So please, return to the website regularly for news and various updates.