News

The British Association of Prosthetics and Orthotics (BAPO) and the California Orthotic & Prosthetic Association (COPA) are pleased to announce a new collaboration aimed at raising the visibility of the prosthetic and orthotic profession globally. The collaboration brings together two leading organisations to address shared challenges, promote innovation, and champion the vital work the prosthetic and orthotic profession provides for our service users.

Luis Mora, President of COPA, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration:

“Our professions are at the heart of restoring mobility and independence for countless individuals. By joining forces with BAPO, we’re creating a platform for knowledge exchange, advocacy, and professional growth that will benefit practitioners and patients alike”.

Dr Nicky Eddison, Chair of BAPO, added:

“International co-operation is essential to the future of prosthetic and orthotics. This partnership reflects our mutual commitment to strengthening the profession, supporting workforce development, highlighting the skills of the prosthetic and orthotic workforce and ensuring they are valued”.

The collaboration will focus on joint initiatives, shared opportunities, and co-ordinated advocacy efforts with our international colleagues. Key priorities include, increasing public awareness of the profession, highlighting the critical role of orthotists and prosthetists in healthcare systems worldwide, and working together to address global workforce shortages within the prosthetic and orthotic sector.

The BAPO Association Partner Programme exists to strengthen global collaboration across the prosthetic and orthotic profession. The challenges facing prosthetics and orthotics, workforce sustainability, access to education, regulation, innovation, and patient need, do not stop at national borders. Global issues require global responses, and this partnership is designed to make that possible.

Through this programme, BAPO and its partner Associations commit to supporting one another through shared knowledge, shared resources, and aligned advocacy. By working together, we can raise the international profile of the prosthetic and orthotic profession, amplify professional voices, and promote consistent standards of care worldwide.

For BAPO members, these partnerships expand professional horizons, connecting the UK profession to international perspectives, innovation, and best practice. For partner Associations and their members, the programme provides access to high quality education, professional resources, and platforms that support learning, visibility, and engagement.

At its core, this partnership is about collective strength. By collaborating globally, we build a more connected, informed, and resilient profession that is better equipped to serve patients, support practitioners, and shape the future of prosthetics and orthotics together.

If you are interested in becoming an Association Partner please contact enquiries@bapo.com 

Association Partners

SOIF – The Swedish Prosthetics and Orthotics Association +

The association was founded as early as 1946 with the aim of promoting higher qualifications and professional standards within the field, monitoring developments, and working to ensure that its members achieved fair and equitable standards in terms of employment conditions and remuneration

The Swedish Prosthetics and Orthotics Association (SOIF) is a politically independent professional organization. Our work is guided by the values of a democratic society governed by the rule of law, as reflected in Swedish legislation as well as in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

SOIF exists to represent and support the professional interests of orthopedic engineers in Sweden.

In practice, this means that we work to:

• Promote strong opportunities for continuing professional development, advanced training, and research
• Advocate for good employment conditions and a healthy working environment
• Initiate, organize, and contribute to education that strengthens and develops the role of the orthopedic engineer
• Enhance the visibility and impact of orthopedic engineers within the healthcare system
• Support a knowledgeable, responsible profession that is well prepared to work both nationally and internationally

We greatly value collaboration with our international sister organizations and see strong potential in sharing knowledge, experience, and best practice to further strengthen our profession together

Building on the success of BAPO’s existing partnership programme, this new strand focuses specifically on working with journals and publishers to improve access to research, support education and continuing professional development, and increase visibility for high-quality scholarly content within the profession.

Benefits for BAPO Members

The Journal Partnership Programme delivers clear and tangible benefits for BAPO members, supporting their clinical practice, research activity and lifelong learning. Through these partnerships, members may gain access to:

• Reduced or waived article processing charges (APCs) for open-access publishing
• Greater exposure to relevant, high-quality research in prosthetics and orthotics
• Educational resources such as CPD articles, research summaries and webinars
• Improved engagement with journals aligned to professional priorities and clinical practice

By strengthening links with journals, BAPO aims to ensure that its members are supported to publish, access and apply evidence-based research, enhancing patient care and professional standards across the UK.

Benefits for Journals and Publishers

For journals, the programme provides a valuable opportunity to connect directly with a highly engaged, specialist professional audience. Partner journals benefit from:

• Increased visibility and recognition through BAPO’s website and communication channels
• Targeted promotion to practising prosthetists and orthotists across the UK
• Opportunities to share content and updates with members via newsletters, events and digital communications
• Stronger engagement with clinicians and researchers working at the forefront of prosthetics and orthotics practice

The programme offers flexible partnership options, enabling journals to select a model that best aligns with their strategic goals, whether focused on visibility, education, or member benefits.

Education Partner+

About CPOJ (Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cpoj/index) 

Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal (CPOJ) is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal (ISSN 2561-987X) that promotes unrestricted access to articles for prosthetics and orthotics professionals, researchers, and rehabilitation teams. The scope of the journal includes prosthetics, orthotics, rehabilitation sciences, Mobility Assistive Technology (MAT), Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the prosthetics and orthotics field. CPOJ is indexed by the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), PubMed Central® (PMC), Scopus, Crossref, Sherpa Romeo, and Google Scholar. All accepted articles are permanently available online to the public without restrictions or subscription fees. Published articles in CPOJ can be used, copied, and distributed, provided that appropriate acknowledgment is included. Authors retain the copyright for their original contributions. Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal is hosted by the University of Toronto Libraries and is a member of, and subscribes to the principles of, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). CPOJ articles are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. CPOJ articles are freely accessible on PubMed Central^® (PMC).

Journal Partner flyerDownload

Get Involved

BAPO welcomes expressions of interest from journals and publishers who share a commitment to advancing research, education and professional practice in prosthetics and orthotics.

For more information or to discuss partnership opportunities, please refer to the attached flyer or contact BAPO directly at enquiries@bapo.com 

Quote from Dr Laura Barr, chair of the BAPO Research Committee

“We are excited to work more closely with our journal partners through this new programme. It creates meaningful opportunities for the prosthetics and orthotics community to strengthen relationships between research and practice, support evidence-based care, and improve access to high-quality, relevant research for our members.”

BAPO would like to welcome Maeve as our first BAPO Champion, promoting within her service the work BAPO does and the benefits membership has. Maeve will be leading a BAPO Champion initiative and added more BAPO Champions to the team. We look forward to seeing the work Maeve does.