Physiotherapist first in election to membership of European research body

Cath Sackley is understood to be the first physiotherapist to receive membership of the clinical and veterinary science section of the Academia Europae.

Professor Sackley, a CSP fellow, is head of academic physiotherapy and also head of population sciences at King’s.

The Academia Europaea is an organisation which promotes the value of European research and makes recommendations to national governments and international agencies concerning matters affecting science, scholarship and academic life in Europe.

The clinical and veterinary section covers a wide range of subjects but all sharing in the common connection with the observation, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of disease whether in humans or animals.

The concept of a 'European Academy of Sciences' was raised at a meeting in Paris of the European ministers of science in 1985, supported by the Royal Society, UK.

They elect members on the basis of their clinical research but the academy also supports the work of early career scientists via the Young Academy of Europe.