OCH AYE, THE BRS JUNIORS!
A special update from the BRS Juniors Committee
Joshua Michaels, ENT ST6,
BRS Juniors Committee Member 2024/25
With a successful year of research, development and education delivered by the BRS Juniors' Committee, we had the great pleasure of welcoming the highest number of delegates to date to the 2025 BRS Juniors Day, spearheading what was a compelling annual meeting for the British Rhinological Society.
Edinburgh, this year’s conference host, shone under the clear blue skies, offering perfect conditions to enjoy its iconic sites. But beyond Arthur’s Seat and Edinburgh Castle, other titans awaited.
The BRS Juniors committee produced an excellent line up of speakers, chaired and welcomed to the stage by our BRS Juniors President Mr Edward Balai, alongside the renowned and esteemed BRS President Professor Peter Andrews. Discussions on rhinoplasty assessment and the newly established BRS Mentorship Programme delivered by Mr Rohit Gohil and Ms Archana Soni-Jaiswal respectively, highlighted the intricacies of surgical assessment and patient selection whilst also epitomising how these complexities and those of career development underpin the collaborative and holistic reputation that BRS so proudly upholds.
Further insights into fellowship training and anecdotes from the application process were addressed by both the fellowship directors and their past fellows themselves. It demonstrated the dynamic interplay between clinical competence and key interpersonal skills and was a well-received addition to this year’s programme, particularly by senior trainees aspiring for these positions. An inspirational talk from a medical student and a fast-paced FRCS viva session with Professor Claire Hopkins struck a contrasting reminder of the early and late stages of surgical training. But the true highlight of the BRS Juniors Day came from the established and revered international Keynote Speakers. Professor Darlene Lubbe, of the University of Cape Town and Professor Amin Javer, of the University of British Columbia were an inspiration to delegates. Their works on transorbital surgery and resetting of the sinonasal microbiome respectively demonstrated the depths to which rhinology practice can reach, and the novel therapeutics that these bastions of their field are developing.
A successful meeting came to close and with the 2025/26 BRS juniors committee application window now closed and the election process in motion, it is all but known which team of trainees will lead this growing organisation forward onto new ventures and of course more success at next year’s meeting.
