Basic Facts

• The SRP was founded as a learned society in 1963
• It became a registered charity in 1973 and regularly provides awards, student bursaries and scholarships to develop radiation protection professionals.
• The Society’s full objectives are listed below and in brief they are:
  • To promote the science and art of radiation protection
  • To disseminate knowledge and support relevant education
  • To promote high professional standards to the public benefit.
• The ubiquitous nature of radiation uses (both ionising and non-ionising) requires our field of activity to cover safety aspects of radiation in medicine, industry, the nuclear power cycle, education and research. There are also cross cutting issues such as regulatory control, accidents, prevention of terrorism and emergency response.
• To pursue its objectives across all these fields the Society works with a number of allied societies (see below) and Government Departments and Agencies (see further below).
• The Society has a programme of scientific meetings, workshops and seminars covering the full range of radiation protection and topical issues. These provide opportunities for assessing the profile and development of issues and a platform to disseminate policy and guidance. The Society also runs international symposia which attract high-profile international speakers and experts.
• The Society publishes the internationally respected Journal of Radiological Protection for which scientific papers are subject to peer review.
• More topical issues are covered in a regular Newsletter; an e-mail discussion group of some 600 radiation protection professionals; and the Society’s own website, www.srp-uk.org. The website has a range of features to support professionals in radiation protection.
• The Society currently has 2000+ members and, outside the USA, is the largest radiological protection society in the world.

Working with other Societies

There are several other UK Societies that are topic or sector specific, eg: Association of University Radiation Protection Officers (AURPO); British Institute of Radiology (BIR); British Nuclear Energy Society (BNES); British Nuclear Medicine Society (BNMS); College of Radiographers (CoR); Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), Royal College of Radiologists (RCR). These focus on different sectors of use of radiation, in many cases with radiation protection being just part of their overall interests. With SRP’s remit being the entire field of radiation protection it acts as a natural UK focus across the societies. Close working is facilitated by the fact that most of the members of the other societies that have an interest in radiation protection are also members of SRP. Examples of formal relationships are:

(a) RPA 2000 was set up as a (non profit) limited company to undertake assessments of the core competence of Radiation Protection Advisers (RPAs), for which purpose it is recognised by HSE as an assessing body. Although other societies provide Board members SRP has the largest number of Board members and provides the Secretariat and full administrative support.

(b) The International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA) is the worldwide organisation representing the interests of radiation protection professionals. IRPA has increasing influence on international standards, such as those set by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). IRPA’s rules only allow one associate society per country. SRP is the UK associate society. However, we ensure the other societies have a voice by allocating to them membership of the SRP International Committee, which provides the focus for UK input to IRPA. Within Europe, the European Commission is increasingly looking to groups of professional societies for advice in areas such as mutual recognition of training and qualifications; the SRP is active in such discussions with European IRPA Associate Societies.

Working with Government Departments and Agencies

Modern Government requires networking with all the various stakeholders. Perhaps the most formal and obvious mechanism for this is through Consultation Documents. These are the responsibility of either the relevant Government Department/Agency or the international organisation e.g. ICRP, WHO, IAEA. However, there are many other mechanisms that can contribute to the process, whether it be identification of issues, development of draft solutions (standards or guidance) through Working Groups, methods of promulgation or raising awareness of standards or guidance. As the UK Society covering the full range of radiation protection interests, SRP can help in all of these aspects, eg:

(a) SRP sector-specific and topic-specific groups have regular meetings to identify issues and develop ways to take them forward.

(b) Often arising out of (a), SRP organises scientific meetings and workshops which can provide the Department/Agency with the opportunity to listen or take part in dialogue on issues that are developing, perhaps to test the water on an issue or clarify guidance. Two recent examples are: a scientific meeting on "Radiological terrorism: prevention and response", and a workshop on "Remediation of radioactively contaminated land". These meetings were contributed to by relevant Departments.

(c) SRP will nominate a representative to contribute to a Working Group (whether Departmental or cross government) addressing a particular issue.

(d) SRP will respond as one of the consultees to a consultation document.

(e) Following a consultation process there is a need to disseminate the outcome. This is often done within a presentation at one of the SRP scientific meetings or through a dedicated series of scientific meetings sponsored by the Department/Agency. This took place extensively for HSE in relation to the introduction of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999. Another route would be a news article on the SRP website or in the newsletter, or a posting to the e-mail discussion list.