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.
Book your ticket for 2024 today.
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 will take place online 6.30–8pm, Wednesday 24 April 2024.
The nominated speaker will be Professor Katrina Bannigan with her lecture, The time is now.
Join Professor Katrina Bannigan’s lecture
More about this year’s event
This year’s lecture, delivered by Professor Katrina Bannigan, is 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 getting your ticket – by visiting this year’s webpage.
We encourage you to invite friends interested in occupational therapy. It's a great way to immerse them in our profession.