American-British-Canadian (ABC) Travelling Fellowship

The American‑British‑Canadian (ABC) Travelling Fellowship provides BOA members with a career‑defining opportunity to broaden their expertise and networks. Participants gain first‑hand insight into innovative orthopaedic practice at leading centres across North America, engage in knowledge exchange with world‑renowned specialists, and build lasting international collaborations. Delivered in partnership with The Bone & Joint Journal, this prestigious fellowship enriches both clinical practice and professional development, offering experiences that resonate throughout a surgeon’s career.

Established in 1948, this prestigious 5-week fellowship is open to applicants who have been an appointed consultant for less than 10 complete years on 1st January in the year of travel. Four BOA-nominated fellows will participate alongside one each from South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

How do I apply?

Applications for the 2026 ABC Fellowship tour are now open until 19 September 2025.
Applications must be submitted to [email protected] with the subject line ‘ABC Fellowship Application’
The application must consist of the following in Word (.doc or .docx) format
- Your CV
- A covering letter that includes:
  - BOA membership number
  - Date of consultant appointment
  - Your subspecialty interest(s)
  - Names of two referees who must be BOA Home Fellows
  - How you meet the criteria, what you expect to gain from the Fellowship and how this will influence your practice and benefit patients.
- You should also identify 4-5 presentation topics that you can expect to deliver while on the fellowship and be prepared to discuss these at the interview.

Eligible applications will be considered by a shortlisting panel representing the BOA and BJJ and assessed on how well they demonstrate the following criteria:

Leadership and Ambassadorial Potential
Research Engagement
Medical Education
Clinical Excellence
Benefit to Candidate

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview with the panel (date TBC).

By applying for this fellowship, you are confirming that you have read and agree to the terms and conditions of the BOA ABC Travelling Fellowship.

Please check that the contact details held on the BOA membership database are correct, as these will be used to contact you regarding your application.

What's the tour like?:

Hear from Ciara Stevenson, ABC Fellows 2024:

On 2nd June 2024, seven surgeons from across the world assembled in London to represent their
respective Orthopaedic Associations and embark on the ABC Travelling Fellowship. A dinner hosted by
the Bone and Joint Journal, attended by previous ABC fellows Deborah Eastwood (ABC 1992), John Skinner (ABC 2004) and Fares Haddad (ABC 2004) provided entertaining stories of previous fellowships and set the expectations (of behaviour) for the coming tour. The following morning our group boarded the flight from Heathrow to Calgary full of excitement and nervous anticipation for the weeks ahead. More.

The ABC fellows who travelled in June 2022 created a blog which they updated daily as they trekked across Canada and the USA visiting some of the world’s best orthopaedic centres. Read their blog here.

We were delighted to host the North American Fellows on a three-week tour in autumn 2022, which included the BOA Congress in Birmingham. Read their blog here.