The BCLA student ambassador scheme was introduced in 2015, but has largely been placed in hibernation over the past two years due to the pandemic. With Covid-19 now less prevalent, the BCLA is renewing the programme as part of a wider drive to engage with students.
‘It was difficult to maintain the student ambassador scheme during the pandemic with the switch to virtual learning for a certain amount of time at the universities, programme starts and finishes, and timing slipping,’ says Luke Stevens-Burt, chief executive at BCLA. ‘With the optometry courses returning to normal, and a new BCLA council settling in, this is a brilliant opportunity for us to relaunch and revitalise the scheme.’
A key change is that the ambassador programme going forward will be overseen primarily by BCLA council member and Aston lecturer Debarun Dutta.
‘For the past couple of years, the student ambassador programme has usually been looked after by a relatively new professional, someone who might have recently graduated themselves,’ says Stevens-Burt. ‘The thinking being that they’ve gone through the process recently so they still bring with them that knowledge and experience of what it’s like to be training or a new professional. That approach was useful, but a key focus for us is on student members. So, when Debarun came onto council, we thought, “why don’t we engage somebody who’s lecturing and is actually directly in touch with students.”
‘As a touchpoint, and in terms of having a finger on the pulse, it will be great to have someone running it who is actually meeting with students regularly. Debarun will be supported by a new professional representative who is an ex-student ambassador. He is quite recently newly qualified so he’ll bring some of that perspective to support Debarun and some of the other committee leads, in terms of how we engage with new professionals across the board, but particularly with the student ambassadors. So that’s a way that we are still going to maintain insights from a new professional perspective.’
Dutta notes the ambassadors currently being recruited will take up their roles at the start of the next academic year in September.
‘We are looking to recruit one student from each British & Irish University and College Contact Lens Educators institution,’ says Dutta. ‘We want them to promote the benefits of BCLA membership to their peers, by which we mean fellow optometry and dispensing optician students advocate for the organisation and participate at events such as our clinical conference.’
‘It’s really about opening up those engagement channels to their student peers, and ensuring that the BCLA has a presence at the very start of what will, no doubt, be a very engaging and exciting career for those new professionals in the making,’ says Stevens-Burt. ‘Raising the role of contact lens optician as a job possibility, getting people excited and interested in content lenses, thinking about the technology and everything that’s around it.’
A role with benefits
Successful applicants to the role will gain hands-on experience through participating, supporting and networking at BCLA events, playing a role in social media campaigns and attending planning meetings both virtually and face-to-face. Expenses are paid for any travel required, making it easier to access the variety of internship experience the role can unlock across diverse work environments, from contact lens specialty practice to contact lens manufacturers.
Luke Stevens-Burt
‘The networking opportunities at events are considerable,’ says Dutta. ‘I remember at one of my first clinical conferences, I ended up having a casual breakfast with the person who literally wrote the book on a particular aspect of contact lenses that I was interested in. It’s a really organic thing and a great opportunity for students.’
‘I think the professional development side of the role is really strong,’ adds Stevens-Burt. ‘At our conference events they’ll be learning from some of the best in the industry.’
Dutta also notes that serving as an ambassador offers students the chance to connect and form a team with like-minded people at different learning institutions.
‘There’s a big benefit from talking to each other,’ he says. ‘Every institution has its own way of teaching contact lenses, but the ambassador programme gathers all the separate threads together into a team.’
Applications for the ambassador programme are welcome from any student who is studying optometry and contact lenses.
‘We have a few different curriculums going on in the various universities and teaching institutions but frequently contact lenses are taught in the second year. We are keen to hear from students who know and study contact lenses,’ says Stevens-Burt.
- The deadline for applications is Tuesday March 15, 2022. Visit bcla.org.uk/Public/About/Student_Ambassadors for full details on the role and how to apply.