Our Elizabeth Casson Memorial Lecture
Our lecture – open to members and non-members – is a memorial to Dr Elizabeth Casson (1881-1954) in honour of her contributions to the occupational therapy profession.
Who was Dr Elizabeth Casson?
Dr Elizabeth Casson was the first woman to be awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of Bristol in 1929, She specialised in psychiatry and introduced occupational therapy to England, setting up the first school of occupational therapy – Dorset House – in Bristol.
Who gives the lecture?
Each year we award an RCOT member whose peers consider them to have made, and be making, a significant contribution to developing our profession, to give the lecture.
2024's Elizabeth Casson Memorial Lecture
Our 52nd Elizabeth Casson Memorial Lecture was given on Wednesday 24 April 2024 by Professor Katrina Bannigan. Her lecture The time is now can be rewatched via rcot.co.uk/2024-elizabeth-casson-memorial-lecture
More about this year’s event
This year’s lecture, delivered by Professor Katrina Bannigan, was entitled, The time is now.
The time is now
In 2021 RCOT’s Chief Executive, Steve Ford, observed that the profession feels like ‘the underdog’ with other professions being better at grasping opportunities. Yet, until January this year, every Chief Allied Health Professions Officer in the UK was an occupational therapist.
This lecture will explore how we need to capitalise on individual successes to create a social movement for the value of occupation. This argument will be illustrated with an example of occupation-based practice in public health.
Find out more
You can find out more about Katrina and this year’s Elizabeth Casson Memorial Lecture – including a recording of the lecture – by visiting this year’s webpage.