Professional award winners

CSP Awards

In 1947 CSP Council started awarding a small number of Honorary Fellowships to those physiotherapists who had made on outstanding contribution to the profession including, in 1948, to the surviving founders of the CSP. From 1950, Fellowships were awarded to physiotherapists for submitted thesis, dissertation or book publications.  The CSP Roll of Honour reads like a veritable Who’s Who of the mid-century physiotherapy profession, with many names that may still be familiar now across core physiotherapy specialities.  

In 1982, rules were changed to allow Fellowships, rather than Honorary Fellowships, to be awarded to physiotherapists for outstanding contribution and impact to the profession. In 1990, Honorary Fellowships were restricted to those outside of the CSP, and in 1999, the Distinguished Service Award (DSA) was introduced to recognise all CSP members and employees who had provided outstanding service to the profession and its members. 

How Fellowships are awarded  

The rules around Fellowships are complex and set out in our Charter and Byelaws and require that Fellowships can only be awarded to CSP members who are practising or retired physiotherapists.  However, in December 2023 Council approved our latest review to allow our CSP associate members to be awarded an Honorary Fellowship, in recognition of the fact that our support worker members now make up a significant element of the profession.  

The CSP Council confers awards based on the recommendation of the member-comprised Professional Awards Panel, which meets three times a year. Approximately 500 Fellowships and Honorary Fellowship have been awarded since 1947, and the window for the 2024 cohort of awardees is now open. 

Here we look at the 2023 awardees and hope to inspire you to nominate someone, or apply yourself, for a professional award in 2024. 

Professional awards

This year’s winners

Catherine Pope’s Fellowship is for her outstanding strategic and inclusive leadership of physiotherapy and allied health professionals. As Chair of CSP Council from 2015-18, she led a major review of the CSP’s governance arrangements. resulting in a more accountable Council and committee structure, impacting how the whole profession is governed. She said, ‘I am delighted and proud to receive a Fellowship, which feels such a tribute at the end of my physiotherapy career.’ 

Catherine Jenkins is awarded a Distinguished Service Award for her service to paediatric physiotherapy and the Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapist (APCP) in the field of postural management; in particular, for her innovative designing of products to support postural management, maximise function and enable participation. Catherine said, ‘to be recognised as having contributed in a positive way to the profession is both thrilling and humbling.’  

Fiona Beckerlegge’s Fellowship is for her outstanding and sustained commitment to international development work in advancing paediatric disability services in Uganda, providing solutions to some of the most significant social and environmental challenges facing populations. Fiona said ‘I am truly honoured to be recognised by CSP.’

Carol McCrum’s Fellowship is for her longstanding commitment to evidencing and advancing clinical practice for people with axial spondyloarthritis (SpA). Carol was appointed as one of the first musculoskeletal consultant physiotherapists in 2005 and over the last 17 years has championed the consultant role.  Carol said, ‘The award is an honour and so valuable that the CSP undertakes this work to recognise the efforts made by members to make a difference to and for the profession.’ 

Doreen McClurg’s Fellowship is for her outstanding work in pelvic health, drawing together key aspects of the non-surgical management of incontinence and pelvic floor dysfunction as well as creating a structured career path for pelvic health practitioners. Doreen said, ‘It was very unexpected but a great honour to be made a Fellow of the CSP.’ 

Jenny Tinkler is awarded a Distinguished Service Award in recognition of over 40 years outstanding service to the field of Learning Disability (LD) and her vast contributions to the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists for People with Learning Disabilities (ACPPLD). She has played a key role in promoting the speciality of LD across the wider profession, influencing the quality of physiotherapy delivered for people with LD. Jenny said, ‘It is a huge honour and an amazing recognition in this specialist strand of physiotherapy.’