British APCO are pleased to announce the inaugural Ian Thompson Bursary Award. Recognition and celebration of innovation and success, as both individuals and as team members, should be par for the course of being a British APCO member. It is an important ingredient for galvanising a professional community spirit amongst the Association. Our former Chief Executive Ian Thompson, who passed away in 2020, was a great advocate for education and developing young talent within the public safety industry. During Ian’s tenure, it was often discussed how we should support the development of these individuals while at the same time promoting British APCO and furthering its charitable objectives.
The British APCO Board have been considering an award in Ian’s name for some time and are delighted to have announced the formal launch of the award at the Newcastle event in November 2022.
The award will be open to applicants currently working in, or an apprentice, or studying towards achieving a position in the public safety/critical communications industry in the future. They should be in the first 2 or 3 years of working in the field of critical communications in public safety within the UK and Ireland.
The award will consist of a bursary which will cover the cost of travel, accommodation, and ancillary costs, accompanying a British APCO Board member to either EENA (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Critical Comms World (Helsinki, Finland), NENA (Grapevine, Texas), ACPO International (Nashville, Tennessee) or ACPO Canada (Calgary), or a similar event at the discretion of the Board.
The recipient will be expected to use the opportunity to focus on an aspect of their employment/ studies that that will be seen as of interest and relevance to critical communications in the UK and Ireland. There will be an expectation on the individual to present their findings at one of our conferences (costs to be covered by British APCO) and to supply an article for the BAPCO Journal on their experience and findings. During the year following the award, they will be invited to attend the Advisory Group to gain insight into the Association and will have access to the Chief Operating Officer and Board members who will undertake an advisory/mentoring role as appropriate to the circumstances and needs of the individual(s).
This is an exceptional opportunity for people new to our sector to expand their knowledge and develop ideas – we have deliberately kept the application process simple to encourage applicants to step forward.
Full details can be found in the information to applicants on our website here along with an application form.
Should you require any clarification pre submission deadline day (preferably before 13th January) then do contact support@bapco.org.uk. The closing date for applications is 20th January, with successful applicants being announced during the annual dinner in Coventry on 7th March 2023.
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