At Wednesday's Annual Dinner in Aberdeen Amber Bannon and Claire-Louise Chapple were awarded Honorary Fellowship.  This is the highest honour that the Society can bestow and is in recognition of their contributions to the Society and to radiation protection.

Amber Bannon
Amber has given many years of exemplary service to SRP and the wider radiation protection community. She has served as Honorary Secretary of the Society for three years, during which time she played a prominent part in the transformation of the governance of SRP. She was then elected as the youngest President-Elect and then President for the term 2017-2019, a role in which she was keen to encourage young people, especially women and girls, into physics and radiation protection, exemplified by her regular participation in the Big Bang Fair. As President she was also instrumental in developing a new strategic plan for the Society as well as overseeing implementation of its restructure and oversaw the formation of the Radiation Protection Council.

Amber joined ICI in 1988 as a research and development chemist, eventually becoming an environmental development chemist advising on regulatory compliance and improving performance by liaising with regulators.   She joined the Environment Agency in 2000, working as a Regulatory Officer for radioactive substances regulation (RSR), before becoming an RSR Technical Specialist in 2009 with a nationwide role as EA lead for the Research and Education Sector. She is currently in the Advanced Nuclear Technologies and Future RSR Strategy team, currently focusing  on ensuring the regulation of fusion energy production facilities is enabling and proportionate to the risks of the technologies deployed, developing an outreach strategy for the RSR function that fits with the overall goals of the EA and developing their international engagement strategy with priority organisations such as IAEA, ICRP, NEA, HERCA and OSPAR. Amber was the EA Technical Secretary for the Small Users Liaison Group (SULG) for over 10 years and is now the Technical Secretary for the EA Radioactive Substances Regulation Business Activity Group, which sets the strategic management and direction of the RSR function.  Full citation

Claire-Louise Chapple

Claire-Louise is Head of Imaging Physics and Radiation Safety at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where she has worked for over 30 years. She has many publications to her name, leading to an international reputation in the assessment and optimisation of patient dose and radiation protection in diagnostic radiology. She joined Council in 2015, and served as Honorary Secretary for five years.  During this time she was instrumental in bringing about a step change in our governance arrangements, ensuring the Society embedded Charity Commission requirements within our operational documents and also contributing to the restructure process.  She also played a significant role influencing initiatives relating to the recognition of radiation protection experts and radiation protection professionals.  When impending changes in legislation, triggered by the implementation of the Basic Safety Standards Directive (BSSD), prompted the UK Regulators to approach SRP for help in providing an options appraisal for the state recognition of RPAs, RWAs and MPEs, Claire-Louise represented the views of SRP and the profession in meetings with the Regulators, together with representatives from our Partner Societies.  At the same time Claire-Louise also supported SRP in developing a scheme for the recognition of radiation protection professionals at all stages of their career, resulting in changes to the SRP Charter and the creation of the Radiation Protection Council.

Claire-Louise has been actively involved in international radiation protection initiatives over the years, including those involved in delivering training in developing countries.  She has been on the programme committee of two IRPA International Conferences has is a member of the IRPA Executive Council and is chair of Task Groups on the Review of the System of Protection and Radiation Safety Culture in Healthcare.  Full citation