I have completed my first year plus 2 months as IRPA President. The year past has been challenging and exciting as I have been able to represent IRPA at many places and interact with radiation protection professionals worldwide. I will not detail all the things I have been doing, but I will highlight some of the activities that I think are particularly important for the future of IRPA.

The upcoming year is particularly important because IRPA Associate Societies will host four regional congresses. I had the opportunity to visit Tokyo, Medellin and Nairobi, sites of three of the congresses, and to discuss with the organizing committees details of the plans and arrangements. All, including the congress in Helsinki, have enthusiastic organizations and are well on their way to preparing outstanding congresses. I encourage you all to plan to participate in at least one of the congresses this year. Abstract submission for Helsinki is closed, but the closing dates for abstract submission for the other congresses are 

Tokyo 1 Feb
Nairobi 31 March
Medellin 15 May.

In September I had the opportunity to attend the World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering in Munich. I was invited to present IRPA activities in a session on risk communication and focused on the application to risk communication of the IRPA Guiding Principles on Stakeholder Engagement and the initiative on improving radiation protection culture. I also had very productive meetings and discussions with the IOMP leadership concerning future collaborations. I expect that in the future there will be exchanges of invitations to congresses between the presidents of the two organizations and participation in executive meetings. Also, there is interest in organizing joint sessions and continuing education programs on topics of mutual interest. There is also possibility for collaboration in organizing societies or regional associations in developing areas. For example, IOMP has regional organizations under development in the Middle East and Africa, both of which have been invited to participate in the African Regional Congress in Nairobi. IOMP also has a library program in which IRPA could participate to distribute radiation protection literature, especially in developing countries.

The EC had its second meeting of 2009 in Paris in October. This meeting focused on the follow-up to our strategic planning meeting in March and plans for the future.  The final version of the Strategic Plan was agreed and it will be posted on the IRPA website. Two important parts of this plan are the IRPA Mission and Vision statements that are reproduced here.

MISSION

IRPA is the international voice of the radiation protection profession and promotes excellence in national and regional associate societies and radiation protection professionals by providing benchmarks of good practice and enhancing professional competence and networking.

2020 VISION

IRPA promotes excellence in national and regional associate societies and in radiation protection professionals by providing support, guidance, benchmarks of good practice, exchange of information, and by facilitating networking to ensure that the highest standards of professional conduct, skills and knowledge are applied for the benefit of society. IRPA is recognized by its members and stakeholders as the international voice of the radiation protection profession in the enhancement of radiation protection culture and practice worldwide.

Another important activity was the First International Workshop for Developing IRPA Guidelines for a Radiation Protection Culture, which was held in Paris in December. You will be hearing more about this activity as we bring the ideas developed during this workshop to the Regional Congresses for discussion in preparation for a second international workshop late this year. We hope to get good discussions about this issue and ideas about how to proceed from Associate Societies and members in all the regions. You will see more about this on the IRPA website in the future.

Finally, I have sent a message to all Associate Societies encouraging participation in the final review of the revision of the IAEA Basic Safety Standards. This will take place from the end of January to the end of May this year. I encourage you all to participate with your Society to review and comment on this important document. It should be available at the IRPA website by the end of this month.

As I said in my report last June, I hope that this report is informative and of interest to you. Please let me know what you think. I also encourage all Associate Societies to share information about their activities. Send your news to Publications Director Dick Griffith for posting. It will be posted in the Associate Society news section of the IRPA website.

The Gray Medal was established by the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements in 1967. It is awarded for outstanding contributions to basic or applied radiation science of interest to the ICRU and honors the late Louis Harold Gray, former member and Vice-Chairman of the Commission.

For the fifteenth Gray Medal award, the Commission will give preference to individuals who have made major contributions in the field of basic radiation science. Nominations for the medal may be made by any person or organization. They must include a complete biographical sketch (of the nominee, selected reprints or records which show the significant contributions made by the nominee, and letters of support evaluating the importance of the contributions. Nominations should be directed to the Chairman of the ICRU, Suite 400, 7910 Woodmont Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland, USA 20814 and must be received by the ICRU no later than June 1, 2010.

For more information, go to the ICRU Web Site.