For the purposes of this subcommittee, an academic trainee is a junior doctor with an academic or research component to their training. The JATS (joint academic trainees subcommittee) has the responsibility of considering and addressing issues of concern to academic trainees and of ensuring that academic training is taken into consideration by the MASC (medical academic staff committee) and the JDC (junior doctors committee).
Our role involves:
- advising the MASC and JDC on matters affecting academic trainees, including on possible courses of action, and facilitating the sharing of information between MASC and JDC
- leading on developing BMA policy specifically for academic trainees, apart from contractual negotiations on which the subcommittee will advise both MASC and JDC
- leading on developing guidance for academic trainees for approval by MASC and JDC
- leading on developing and enhancing communications with academic trainees.
Our priorities
- To ensure that academic trainees can take part in the campaign for pay restoration to the extent that the law allows and that they are fully aware of their rights and obligations. Detailed guidance can be found here.
- To ensure that any changes to junior doctor pay are translated into the pay and contracts of academic trainees employed by universities, with funding provided by the governments of the UK.
- To ensure revision of the guidance on eligibility for the academic pay premium and work for it to be linked to and increased in line with basic pay
- To ensure enhanced supervision and governance of university-employed academic trainees when working in the NHS.
A key role of JATS is to plan and organise the BMA’s clinical academic trainees conference. The next conference is due to be in Autumn 2023.
Our people
Co-chairs: Jonathan Gibb and Yanushi Wijeyeratne
Deputy chair: Julia Zoellner
Catherine Atkin
Jayesh Bhatt
Candice Downey
Sarah Hallett
Daniel Jones
Michael Kemp
Alice-Mihaela Mezincescu
Kevon Parmesar
Anna Riemen
Ibtisam Salim
Praveen Sharma
David Smith
Jonathan Stewart
David Strain
Robert Sykes
Oliver Townsend
Sam Tweed
Kiara Vincent
Julia Zollner
Observers:
Rajat Gupta
David Katz
Marcia Schofield
Euan Strachan-Orr
Our meetings
Meeting dates:
- Thursday 23 November 2023 - 10.30am to 1pm
- Friday 10 May 2024 (time tbc)
- The subcommittee also aims to hold a webinar in early February 2024 and have a presence at the BMA medical academics conference 2024 being held at BMA House and on-line on Friday 17 May 2024.
All meetings take place either virtually or at:
BMA House
Tavistock Square
London
WC1H 9JP
Conference
2023
The officers of the subcommittee reported on its work to the medical academics conference 2023 organised by the medical academic staff committee and held on Friday 12 May 2023.
2021
The 2021 conference was held virtually on Wednesday 13 October 2021 - 6.30pm to 7.30pm.
Watch the 2021 conference webcast
If you have suggestions for content and speakers for future conferences, please get in touch with us at [email protected].
How to join
There are many advantages to becoming involved in our committees. You can actively influence BMA policy-making and negotiations, represent your colleagues' voices and develop your leadership skills.
Each committee has a few routes to becoming an elected member. In the case of the JATS, most voting members are elected from other BMA committees:
- three trainee members of the MASC
- three members of the JDC*
- one officer of the MASC appointed by MASC**
- one officer of the JDC executive
- one member of MSC
- one academic trainee appointed by the GP registrars committee
- one academic trainee appointed by the public health medicine registrars subcommittee
- four academic trainees not otherwise involved as members of a BMA committee, elected by the clinical academic trainees conference
- one academic trainee from Scotland (provided there is not already a member from Scotland), appointed by the Scottish JDC
- one academic trainee from Northern Ireland (provided there is not already a member from Northern Ireland), appointed jointly by the NIJDC and NIMASC
- one academic trainee from Wales (provided there is not already a member from Wales), appointed by the Welsh JDC
* In any election, preference would be given to academic trainees.
**This would normally be the officer leading on academic training issues. If that person is themselves an academic trainee, the committee should be invited to appoint a further member.
To join the JATS via any of these committees, please see any elections on their respective pages.
Get in touch
If you are interested in finding out more about the work of JATS, or in getting involved, please contact [email protected].
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