Radiation Protection in Research and Teaching Sectorial Committee

Minutes

28 March 2006 doc

Members

Monty Guest (Chair) (SRTS Ltd)
Kate Goan (Secretary) (Organon Laboratories Ltd, Lanarkshire)
Monty Charles (Birmingham University)
Peter Cole (Liverpool University)
Penny Giorgio (Surrey University)
Niall Higbee (Oxford University)
James Jamieson (SSERC, Edinburgh)
Sheila Liddle  (Bristol University)
David Revitt (Novartis, Horsham)
Ralph Whitcher (West Sussex)

If you are involved as a researcher in the medical field doing clinically-applicable research, then you should apply to belong to the Medical Committee.

The committee has reviewed the Report of the Nuclear Skills Group. Part 1 (DTI site) from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and felt it was such a strong document that it formed the basis of many of the challenges affecting Society members in research and teaching. Jim Jamieson spoke at a scientific meeting in Cambridge on the challenges faced by schools in Scotland. How should the Society carry forward the recommendations for the other areas of research and teaching?

The consensus of the committee was that the various aspects of education should be a priority; we all realise that it is becoming more difficult to attract new blood into the field of radiation protection. This will affect us all eventually. The committee acknowledged there were difficulties in recruiting experienced staff. Those employed generally required training and this was often in the form of on-the-job training as courses are extremely difficult to source or are too expensive.

The committee feels that the way in which the Society and society at large tackles the recruitment issue, especially attracting young students into the field of physics and radiation science, has to be addressed. It was felt that a meeting should be organised in collaboration with as many other interested organisations as possible i.e. AURPO, IPEM, BIR, IOP and ASE to address this matter.

Specific Recommendations

1. That the Society hold a scientific meeting to discuss the role of the RPA in research and teaching, concentrating on how the the Society can assist RPAs in these sectors.
2. That the Society conduct research into these two specific sectors of research and teaching to judge whether there will be shortages in RPA numbers to support these sectors.
3. That the Society consider steps to be taken to support the teaching of radiation sciences and the relative risks in schools, colleges and universities in conjunction with other professional bodies, eg Institute of Physics, AURPO.