NEW: RSci and RSciTech
IPEM has been represented on the Science Council’s New Registers Advisory Group (NRAG) which has developed standards for two new registers – Registered Scientist (RSci) and Registered Science Technician (RSciTech) – which will run alongside the existing Chartered Scientist (CSci) register. These standards have been approved by the Science Council’s Registration Authority (which will eventually take operational responsibility from NRAG) and by the Science Council Board.
Initially the new registers will operate on a pilot basis and IPEM is one of seven professional bodies selected to operate pilot licences. There will be grand-parenting arrangements for existing members in cohorts that clearly meet the minimum registration standards. These cohorts have yet to be agreed with each licensee, but it is hoped that Incorporated Members working in science (as opposed to engineering) will be a cohort for RSci and that Associate Members who have demonstrated more than the minimum level of competence required for RSciTech, for example by the award of the IPEM Diploma in Clinical Technology or by admission to the Voluntary Register of Clinical Technologists (but who are not yet Incorporated Members), will be a cohort for RSciTech.
The Membership Committee will be developing processes for the assessment of members against the published standards who apply for RSci and RSciTech, when the grand-parenting period has been concluded.
Members working in engineering as opposed to physics can already apply to IPEM for registration as CEng, IEng or EngTech through IPEM’s licensing arrangements with the Engineering Council. Members whose job roles cross the boundaries of science and engineering may be eligible for both engineering and science registrations at the appropriate level.
Pilot Bodies
The Science Council has named the seven professional bodies to be awarded pilot licenses for the new registers. They are:
Pilot applications were assessed by a group chaired by Professor Bob Chaplow, Chair of the Science Council’s Registration Authority, along with three neutral members of the New Registers Advisory Group.
Speaking following the award of the pilot licences by the licensing subcommittee, IPEM’s General Secretary, Robert Neilson, who is a member of the New Registers Advisory Group, and who led the development of the standards for CSci and the initial CSci licensing process as Chairman of the Shadow Registration Authority in 2003 and 2004, said:
“I am pleased that IPEM, as one of the pilot licensed bodies, will be in the vanguard of the award of RSci and RSciTech to its qualifying members in 2012, as it was in the first awards of CSci to qualifying members in 2004. Since then 1,295 IPEM members have been granted the CSci award and 1,092 are still registered. The difference largely arises because CSci, unlike many other Chartered awards, can be retained only by those who continue to demonstrate their current competence through CPD, and a number of members awarded CSci since 1994 have subsequently retired and no longer undertake CPD. The same principle will apply to RSci and RSciTech, which the Science Council believes will make them singular awards of professional competence at their respective levels. IPEM hopes to make the new processes for assessment and grant of awards of RSci and RSciTech as efficient and smooth as was the case at the launch of CSci.”
The pilots will run throughout 2012 after which the Science Council intends to open the registers to other member bodies.
Registered Scientist (RSci) - standards of knowledge and competence
Registered Science Technologist (RSciTech) - standards of knowledge and competence