Over the last 10 years there have been increasing concerns raised of a potential skills gap in field of radiation protection. Noting these concerns in 2019 the Society for Radiological Protection, the UK's Chartered Professional Body, launched a study to determine the radiation protection demand in the UK going forward along with the capacity of the profession. The initial results show that over 50% of the SRP membership retires in the next 10 -15 years, coupled with an increase in radiation protection demand across the nuclear fuel cycle, medical sector and advancement of new technologies or applications requiring radiation protection advice. This provides strong evidence supporting the concerns of a future skills gap. This paper presents a framework highlighting 3 core objectives that need to be met to resolve the skills gap. A review of the existing initiatives being undertaken by the Society of Radiological Protection to meet these objectives is included identifying both areas of good practice and areas for further work or development. A key theme to tackling this challenge has been identified as the need to foster greater collaboration between RP professionals, and organisations both within the UK and abroad, such as IRPA, the National Societies, Employers, Academia and Industry. This brings the unique opportunity of directing efforts and resources to a common goal, and allowing the sharing of good practice, whilst reducing the strain and burden on any one organisation. Another key output of the review was the need to embrace new and innovative solutions to developing our profession and importantly inspiring and communicating to the future of the profession.

The role of radiation protection societies in tackling the skills shortage and development of young professionals and researchers.

The effects of radiation on man and his health had been noticed since the early years after the discovery of X-rays. These biological concerns were more commonly known as â€œradio-sensitivenessâ€ in the early publications. Later, the term radiation protection was introduced to express the need for protective measures to be promoted, formulated, implemented, evaluated and sustained to reduce the biological effects associated with radiation exposure. The principles of radiation protection were then supported with the concepts of justification, ALARA and â€œBenefits against the risksâ€. But these could not ensure that the application of radiation protection has been optimized. Amidst the technological advancements associated with radiation based imaging modalities in healthcare for more than 120 years, those advancements has yet to be able reduce the impact of these modalities being a source of risks upon the more beneficial role as a diagnostic tool. This paper reports a review on radiation protection from articles indexed in an online database. Considering that the titles of the articles contain the core subject matter that a publication carries, data were retrieved on those titles with the term â€œradiation protectionâ€. Publications from 2008 to middle of November 2017 and aligned to Medicine and Health professions were included for further elaborations. The data were classified into four subject areas; education and training, administration and organization, practice and research. Discussions within each classification and their individual sub-classifications, supported by selected publications to the classification, highlight the importance of the particular subject area to the overall concept of radiation protection. Lessons learnt from the classifications could provide the necessary guidance on how one should adopt and adapt the concept of radiation protection holistically. The discussions that are presented are seen within the professional obligation in adhering to the principles of radiation protection.

Towards holistic radiation protection. Lessons from the literatures

It is evident that there is a nuclear skills shortage within the UK, and logically it can be assumed that the shortfall extends to the radiation protection arena. Plans for nuclear new-build and the decommissioning of existing nuclear sites will require many more people with radiological knowledge and practical competencies. This converts to a nuclear industry requirement in the order of 1000 new recruits per year over at least the next ten years, mainly as new apprentices and graduates. At the same time, the strong demand for persons with radiation protection know-how in the non-nuclear and health care sectors is unlikely to diminish. The task of filling this skills gap is a significant one and it will require a determined effort from many UK stakeholders. The Society for Radiological Protection (SRP) has adopted a strategy in recent years to help address this skills gap. The aim is to engage the interest of secondary school students in the science of radiation and inspire them to follow a career in radiation protection. This paper presents the reasoning behind this strategy and, in an 'outreach case study', describes the establishment of the annual SRP Schools Event. This event is becoming an important addition to the national efforts aimed at increasing the numbers of skilled UK radiation protection professionals over the forthcoming decades.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0952-4746/35/4/N25/pdf

Strategies for engaging with future radiation protection professionals: a public outreach case study

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Strategies for engaging with future radiation protection professionals: a public outreach case study