EURADOS education and training activities

The European Radiation Dosimetry Group-a 40 year success story

The European Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS) was founded in 1982. Since then, the group has continuously developed and is currently a network of 80 institutions and more than 600 individual scientists across Europe, including exchange with the scientific community outside of Europe. EURADOS supports research and development of dosimetry and harmonising dosimetric practices. This paper describes the major milestones in the history of the organization. It starts from the very beginning when the idea was born and describes periods during which the role and strategy of the network had to be defined, elaborated and refined. Finally, it ends to date where EURADOS appears as an independent self-sustainable association, which is a reliable partner for various international organisations in radiation research and radiation protection. Major activities of EURADOS are highlighted such as (1) establishment and coordination of Working Groups, (2) regular organization of dosimetric intercomparisons for quality assurance of dosimetry procedures, (3) development and organization of education and training events, and (4) contributions towards the development of strategic and integrated radiation research in Europe.

EURADOS STRATEGIC RESEARCH AGENDA 2020: VISION FOR THE DOSIMETRY OF IONISING RADIATION

Since 2012, the European Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS) has developed its Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), which contributes to the identification of future research needs in radiation dosimetry in Europe. Continued scientific developments in this field necessitate regular updates and, consequently, this paper summarises the latest revision of the SRA, with input regarding the state of the art and vision for the future contributed by EURADOS Working Groups and through a stakeholder workshop. Five visions define key issues in dosimetry research that are considered important over at least the next decade. They include scientific objectives and developments in (i) updated fundamental dose concepts and quantities, (ii) improved radiation risk estimates deduced from epidemiological cohorts, (iii) efficient dose assessment for radiological emergencies, (iv) integrated personalised dosimetry in medical applications and (v) improved radiation protection of workers and the public. This SRA will be used as a guideline for future activities of EURADOS Working Groups but can also be used as guidance for research in radiation dosimetry by the wider community. It will also be used as input for a general European research roadmap for radiation protection, following similar previous contributions to the European Joint Programme for the Integration of Radiation Protection Research, under the Horizon 2020 programme (CONCERT). The full version of the SRA is available as a EURADOS report (www.eurados.org).

Quality assurance for the use of computational methods in dosimetry: activities of EURADOS Working Group 6 'Computational Dosimetry'

Working Group (WG) 6 'Computational Dosimetry' of the European Radiation Dosimetry Group promotes good practice in the application of computational methods for radiation dosimetry in radiation protection and the medical use of ionising radiation. Its cross-sectional activities within the association cover a large range of current topics in radiation dosimetry, including more fundamental studies of radiation effects in complex systems. In addition, WG 6 also performs scientific research and development as well as knowledge transfer activities, such as training courses. Monte Carlo techniques, including the use of anthropomorphic and other numerical phantoms based on voxelised geometrical models, play a strong part in the activities pursued in WG 6. However, other aspects and techniques, such as neutron spectra unfolding, have an important role as well. A number of intercomparison exercises have been carried out in the past to provide information on the accuracy with which computational methods are applied and whether best practice is being followed. Within the exercises that are still ongoing, the focus has changed towards assessing the uncertainty that can be achieved with these computational methods. Furthermore, the future strategy of WG 6 also includes an extension of the scope toward experimental benchmark activities and evaluation of cross-sections and algorithms, with the vision of establishing a gold standard for Monte Carlo methods used in medical and radiobiological applications.