Category: General

As we’re now in our 40th year, we are seeking feedback from our members, and the wider psychosocial oncology community, about the current and future role of the Society. We want to hear your thoughts about our direction moving forward, how best to engage the community, and what would be useful benefits of the society.

Please complete this 10-minute survey, open to BPOS members and those in the psychosocial oncology field. The survey is open until the 18th of October.

https://cambridge.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6Jqwfg5rXb0yIEC

Submission Deadline – 1^st September

Read More “Call for Papers – Special Issue on Implementation Science and Psycho-Oncology”

We have vacancies for 5 enthusiastic and committed individuals to fill the following positions on the BPOS Executive Committee.

Read More “Executive Committee Vacancies”

Psycho-Oncology are looking for their next Editor in Chief.

Read More “Psycho-Oncology Editor in Chief”

We’re pleased to announce that the 2023 BPOS annual conference will take place on Wednesday the 22nd March – Thursday 23rd March at Jesus College, Cambridge.

More information and registration details can be found here: https://www.delegate-reg.co.uk/bpos2023/.

Key dates to know:

Submission Deadline: 10.00am, Monday 9th January 2023
Outcome Notification: w/c 30 January 2023
Programme Announced: w/c 30 January 2023
Presenters to be registered by: Monday 20 February 2023

Read our tribute to thirty years of the journal ‘Psycho-Oncology’ here:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/pon.5924

The Irish Psycho-Social Oncology Network (IPSON) is hosting 3 free online training sessions in May, open them up to anyone who may be interested. 

Psychological First Aid, Friday, May 6^th from 1-2pm 

Trauma Informed Medical Care 101, Friday, May 20^th from 1-2pm 

Psychological First Aid, Wednesday, May 25^th from 10am-4pm 

The trainings will be focused on supporting Ukrainian refugees with cancer, but the learning can be generalised to any person who has survived trauma. Please feel free to share this flyer with family, friends, and colleagues. The Psychological First Aid trainings are appropriate for any adult, whereas the Trauma Informed Medical Care 101 is targeted at professionals who work with medical patients.  

Registration 6th May – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/psychological-first-aid-delivered-by-kelly-mcbride-tickets-318778473997

Registration 20th May – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/trauma-informed-medical-care-101-delivered-by-meghan-marsac-tickets-327327654827

Registration 25th May – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/psychological-first-aid-delivered-by-kelly-mcbride-tickets-327338788127

Led by our BPOS student representatives, the executive committee have recently published a paper in Psycho-Oncology exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on post-graduate researchers. Twenty-three respondents to an online survey provided free text comments to prompts about their research/student experience, changes to their research, personal changes needed to adapt, research support and training, and long term impacts. These comments were analysed thematically and a SWOT framework applied.

To read more about the results, you can find the paper here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pon.5885.

We are inviting applications for 2 student and 2 patient/consumer bursaries which will cover the costs of conference registration.

Student Bursaries
To be eligible for the student bursaries, you must be a registered PhD/postgraduate student at the time of the conference and have submitted an abstract. To apply please email Sarah Gelcich treasurer@bpos.org with your name, place of study, years of study, abstract title and a statement of why you wish to attend the conference. The bursary will be awarded to the student whose abstract achieves the highest rating from the scientific committee (this will be done blind to authorship).  In the event of a tie the decision will be based on the submitted statement.

Consumer/Patient Representative Bursaries
To be eligible for the consumer/patient bursaries, you should be someone who has, or has had, a diagnosis of cancer, or be a carer for someone who has had a diagnosis of cancer. To apply please email Sarah Gelcich treasurer@bpos.org providing a brief paragraph outlining why you would like to attend the 2022 conference.  The bursary winners will be selected at random.

We are pleased to announce that our next annual conference will take place virtually on Thursday the 28th – Friday the 29th April 2022. The theme for this conference is Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in psychosocial oncology. We have the following keynote presentations confirmed:

• Sean Ralph, Consultant Therapeutic Radiographer in prostate cancer, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust 
• Prof Afaf Girgis, Honorary Professor, Psycho-oncology Research Group, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney
• Zahida Ramzan-Asghar, Senior Lawyer, Government Legal Department

Abstract submissions on this topic, or the wider aspects of psychosocial oncology, are encouraged. The deadline for abstract submissions is 10am on the 19th January 2022.

To find out more, and to register for the conference, head to: https://www.delegate-reg.co.uk/bpos2022/