How can you engage with IRPA?
Individual members within Associate Societies( such as SRP) are automatically members of IRPA so you should encourage your society to actively engage in the IRPA programme. Through your society you can offer your individual expertise. IRPA may not currently be working on something that you consider important for the future of our profession, so it is up to you and your society to propose further topic work.
Current IRPA Activities
IRPA has many active work programmes, including:
• Radiation safety culture in healthcare
• Education, training, qualifications and certification in radiation protection
• Implementation of eye lens dose measurement and management
• Enhancing public engagement on radiation and risk
• Practical radiation protection: reasonableness, conservatism and the graded approach
• Young Generation Network, giving support for the future of our profession
• Radioactive source security
• Radiation protection in industries with Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material( NORM)
• Non-ionising radiation
IRPA publishes the IRPA Bulletin outlining key issues in radiation protection and the work of IRPA and the Associate Societies.
Congresses are a main focus of IRPA activities. The first IRPA World Congress was held in Rome in 1966 and they are held every four years. Regional Congresses are held in between.
History of IRPA
Following the Second World War, most of the expertise in what was called“ Health Physics” was in America and the US Health Physics Society( HPS) was formed in June 1955. The UK Section of the HPS was formed in 1963 as a semi-autonomous society. Moves towards fully independent national societies led to a meeting in London at which it was agreed to form the“ International Health Physics or Radiation Protection Organisation”. A provisional Executive Council was formed and the first provisional General Assembly was held in Paris in 1964. With the admission of the first four societies, including SRP, IRPA came into being in June 1965.
SRP Honorary Fellow Geoff Webb was President of IRPA 2000 / 2004 and is the author of The History of IRPA – up to the Millenium.
Geoff Webb, member of the Liverpool Congress Organising Committee and IRPA Archivist and Historian
The first IRPA Congress that Geoff attended was in Brighton in 1970; it was the second IRPA Congress( IRPA2). He has, to date, attended 12 World Congresses( from Brighton in 1970 to Cape Town in 2016) and 18 Regional Congresses( from Pretoria in 1980 to Brasov in 2007). And yes – he ' s here in Liverpool. Please do pop by SRP ' s stand in the Exhibition( Stand 52) if you ' d like to have a chat with him or have any questions about IRPA ' s history.
The next World Congress is IRPA18 with the theme of‘ Ensuring Radiation Protection for the Future’. It will be held in Valencia, Spain on 29 May – 2 June 2028.
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