The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Fellowship has launched the first online discussion forum exclusively for RCVS Fellows. Hosted on Discourse, an open-source forum application, the new forum will be available to everyone with the FRCVS credentials. The aim of the platform is to enable members of the Fellowship to share ideas, forge connections with other Fellows and to make it easier for Fellows to have a greater involvement in future Fellowship activities.
The forum has been designed to make starting and contributing to discussions as user-friendly as possible. Once a Fellow has signed up, they will be able to add a new discussion topic, make their contribution to an ongoing discussion, see what has been commented on most recently and send other Fellows on the platform direct messages. The RCVS Fellowship team will also be on-hand to support users with getting to grips with the platform.
Several discussions have already started on the platform including one around how to encourage greater diversity within the Fellowship, one on recommendations and nominations for the Fellows in Focus for 2022 and a discussion about what members think the term “Learned Society” means to them.
When asked about the launch, Cheryl Scudamore, vice-chair of the Fellowship Board, said: “The RCVS Fellowship Team is really excited for Fellows to start using the forum to share their knowledge and connect with other like-minded people. The Fellowship is full of inspiring and interesting individuals who have expertise across the entire breadth of veterinary science, and I hope that our new forum will give all Fellows the opportunity to learn more about other members of the Learned Society.
“As one of the first members of the Discourse forum, I can attest to how easy it is to use. I’m looking forward to meeting as many Fellows as possible through the forum and creating a community of people committed to scientific advancement of the profession.”
All RCVS Fellows will be sent an email which will have instructions on how to register for the forum. Anyone with questions about how to sign up for the forum can email Ceri Chick, senior leadership officer.
The Fellowship Discourse forum can be found at here.
