WELCOME TO THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF THE LIVER

Applications are invited from Nurse, Pharmacist, AHP and Physician Associate members who are UK-based to apply for a travel bursary to attend the annual meeting.

There are a number of sponsored travel bursary scholarship awards for members this year to attend the forthcoming BASL/BLNA October Meeting in Newport, Wales.

Scholarship awards are capped at a maximum of £500 per person and are considered a contribution towards a registration fee, travel and accommodation expenses.

When completing the application form, please only select the level of bursary you need so that we can support as many Nurse, Pharmacist, AHP and Physician Associate members as possible to attend the annual meeting. The bursary levels are:

Level 1 up to £500
Level 2 up to £375
Level 3 up to £250
Level 4 up to £125

NB: Bursaries awarded will be capped at the level applied for on the application form.

Be quick, the closing date for applications is 12:00pm Wednesday 22nd July 2026.

Read the Guidance document before making your application > HERE

Download an Application Form > HERE

NB: if you require a word copy of the application form contact admin@basl.org.uk 

Nomination deadline extended to 23:59hrs Thursday 16th July! 

There are a number of opportunities coming up for members to serve across BASL, BLTG and HCC-UK Committees and the Special Interest Groups, so please get involved and help to shape the future of BASL.

BASL COMMITTEE POSTS:

BASL Treasurer - the Treasurer is one of three principal Officers of the Association, is elected by the membership and will serve for a period of up to three years and can be re-elected once.

BASL Secretary Elect - the Secretary is one of three principal officers of the Association and is elected by the membership. The Secretary Elect will serve for a period of one year followed by up to three years as Secretary. The BASL Secretary is responsible for the annual Scientific Meeting.

Deepak Joshi current Secretary testimonial
"I have been the Secretary of BASL since Autumn 2024. This is why you should apply:
Leadership and strategic influence: Contribute to shaping the direction, governance, and priorities of the UK's leading professional liver society.
Professional networking: Build strong relationships with national and international societies/clinicians, specialist nursing, allied health professionals, researchers, trainees, and partner organisations, creating opportunities for collaboration for all.
Impact on liver health: Help drive initiatives that improve liver research, education, clinical practice, and advocacy, ultimately benefiting patients and the wider liver community.
Being part of a fun, exciting and dynamic team: Identify topics of interest and develop a mutli-disciplinary approach at the annual meeting working with the subgroups within BASL. Gain valuable experience in organisational leadership, governance, project management, and committee coordination that strengthens your professional profile”.

NB: President, Secretary and Treasurer post holders must have different Institutional affiliation within the UK.

Education & Training Committee Councillor - elected by the membership and will serve for a period of up to four years and can be re-elected once.

Surgery Specialist - elected by the membership and will serve for a period of up to three years and can be re-elected once. The post holder will have an advisory role on the BASL Committee.

NB: all of the above posts holders shall be registered with Companies House in the UK as a Director of BASL and registered with the Charities Commission as a Trustee.

Research Committee Lead Deputy - will serve for one year as Research Committee Lead Elect followed by up to three years as Research Committee Lead.

ED&I Chair - elected by the membership to serve for a period of to 3 years and can be re-elected once.

Role descriptions fo the above posts are available to download below:
Treasurer: Download BASL_Treasurer_Role_Description_2026.pdf
Secretary Elect:  Download BASL Secretary_Role Description_June_2026.pdf
Education & Training Committee Councillor:  Download BASL_Committee_Education and TrainingCouncillor_role description_2026.pdf
Research Committee Lead Deputy:  Download BASL_Clinical_Research_Lead_Role_Description_2026.pdf
ED&I Chair:  Download BASL_ED&I_Working_Group_Chair_Description_June 2026.pdf

BLTG COMMITTEE POSTS:

BLTG Secretary - elected by the BASL BLTG membership and will serve for a period of up to three years and can be re-elected once. The post holder will support the BLTG Chair.

Transplant Surgery representative - BLTG Transplant Surgery Representative - elected by the BASL BLTG membership and will serve for a period of up to two years and can be re-elected once. The post holder may also be nominated to sit on the BASL Committee as surgical representative in an advisory role if the role is unfilled. The surgical representative has an important role in helping the BLTG foster closer working with the British Transplant Society and in ensuring BLTG represents all professional interests in liver transplantation whilst promoting strategic and academic development in liver transplantation.

NB: All post holders will take up their roles after the BASL Annual Business Meeting in October 2026.

HCC-UK COMMITTEE POST:

Nursing Representative - elected by the BASL HCC-UK membership and will serve for a period of up to three years and can be re-elected once.

BASL SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP DEPUTY SIG LEADS:

Deputy SIG Leads - are a new role and will be elected by the SIG membership and will serve for a period of two years from 1st September 2026, before becoming the SIG Lead for a further two years from 1st September 2028.
Deputy SIG Lead posts available:
• Acute Liver Failure (ALF) SIG
• Alcohol related Liver Disease (ArLD) SIG
• Immune-Mediated Liver Disease SIG
• Metabolic Dysfunction–Associated Liver Disease (MASLD) SIG
• Palliative Hepatology SIG
• Portal Hypertension SIG
• Rare Diseases SIG

Further information for each of the SIGs may be found on the BASL website Research page.

NB: for all of the above posts nominees must be BASL members.

NOMINATION PROCESS
Please send your nominations, clearly stating the position that your nomination is for to the BASL Secretariat at admin@basl.org.uk by the deadline of 23:59hrs Thursday 16th July 2026.

Candidates wishing to be considered for nomination must be a member of BASL and will require one BASL member to propose them and a second BASL member to confirm their suitability for the role in writing. (Proposing and seconding of candidates can be done by email.)

A personal statement, containing no more than approx. 300 words, will be requested at the time of nomination from all candidates. Personal statements will be shared with the BASL membership for voting purposes only. (Personal statements are intended for this purpose only.)

If more than 1 candidate is nominated for any of the above Committee or Special Interest Group posts, the BASL Secretariat will arrange for an election of members. The successful candidate for each post will be elected by a simple majority of those members voting.

Newly elected committee members will be announced at the next Business Meeting of the Association, which will be held during the BASL Annual Meeting in October 2026, and join the respective committees or SIG thereafter.

BASL is committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in all aspects of its work. It is actively promoting equal opportunities and access for all our members regardless of their background. We would, therefore, encourage you to consider joining the BASL, BLTG or BLNA committees to help to shape the future of BASL and increase our inclusivity/inclusiveness.

If you need any more information, please do not hesitate to contact admin@basl.org.uk .

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes

Each year BASL presents the Dame Sheila Sherlock research prize, one of the highlights of the annual meeting. This prize is awarded annually to recognise the enormous contribution of Dame Sheila Sherlock to the development of Hepatology as a discipline in its own right.

Dame Sheila was involved in the foundation of the British Liver Club in 1961, which subsequently evolved into The British Association for the Study of the Liver (BASL). She was one of our past presidents and the first recipient of the BASL Distinguished Service Award.

Eligibility
In keeping with Dame Sheila’s enthusiasm for fostering young researchers, this eponymous research prize is awarded to young investigators without substantive posts in either medicine, science or allied health roles for their research contributions in the field of hepatology.

The winner will receive free registration to the meeting, an award and a prize of £1,000 and an invite to deliver the prize lecture and present their research at the BASL Annual Meeting.

To apply, please send one A4 sheet outlining your research and another A4 sheet listing up to 5 related publications.

NB: one person cannot win the Dame Sheila Sherlock Research Prize and Andy Burroughs Young Investigator Award in the same year. Nor can they win a second award with the same body of work as the first.

You must be a BASL member to apply.

Please send submissions to conference@basl.org.uk by the deadline of Friday 10th July

BASL is committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in all aspects of its work. It is actively promoting equal opportunities and access for all our members regardless of their background.