Five years of BIR Radiotherapy and Oncology Annual Meetings – Room for more Radiation Research?

Kirby, Mike ORCID: 0000-0001-9765-5641 (2025) Five years of BIR Radiotherapy and Oncology Annual Meetings – Room for more Radiation Research? [Poster]

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Description

Introduction: The British Institute of Radiology (BIR) began focused two-day Radiotherapy and Oncology (BIRTO) international meetings, following several requests for something in the UK, where there was an absence of such meetings directed solely towards Radiotherapy and Oncology; especially from a fully multidisciplinary perspective. 2025 saw the fifth such meeting delivered successfully in London in March. This paper examines all these meetings with a view to asking the question as to whether there is scope for further radiation research to be added into the subject arena. Methods: All five BIR annual Radiotherapy and Oncology meetings have been examined thematically in terms of session themes, plenary talks and discussions, teaching sessions, invited and proffered materials. Results and discussion: Excluding the first meeting (BIRTO21) (because it’s delivery was online only, distributed over two separate weeks, and with teaching sessions as separate lunchtime webinars (across 6 weeks)), most two-day in-person meetings were composed of 12 separately themed sessions, with an average of 42 talks presented per meeting in the main sessions. In the two most recent BIRTO meetings, some sessions were double/treble length, to concentrate on subject topics such as Patient Voice, International Collaborations/initiatives and Artificial Intelligence. Plenary keynote presentations ranged from 2 to 5 talks per meeting; the most when extra talks were scheduled over lunchtimes. Four teaching sessions were included in the 2021 and 2022 meetings. Most sessions have focused on Clinical Practice and new/developing modalities (such as PBT). The most consistent sessions (taking place at every meeting) have been Adaptive RT, Safety and Regulation (usually led by the UKHSA) and Manufacturer’s talks. Radiobiology and related topics have featured in three invited talks and in proffered materials too. Plenaries and keynote/prize talks have included topics such as personalised radiation oncology, FLASH RT, Re-irradiation, particle therapy, imaging developments, AI and patient experiences. Some of the most powerful presentations have come from patients themselves, giving all present a sense of focus and purpose for sharing experiences, research and development at all levels. For the 2021/2022 meetings, teaching sessions covered topics such as IGRT, PBT, dosimetry and radiation detectors, radiomics, adaptive RT and Brachytherapy. Conclusions: A key feature, shown by the range of sessions across the five meetings, is the variety of subject matter; a feature often highlighted in feedback. But there is scope to introduce further radiation research with direct applicability to translational and clinical Radiotherapy, as well as research into radiation detection/image formation. More creative, online content could be utilised as well as re-enabling teaching sessions within the main two-day meeting. Webinars and other online opportunities could also be explored. A highly successful online meeting on Practical Radiobiology for everyday modern Radiotherapy was organised in 2021 during the pandemic; therefore, specific ARR/BIR webinars are now being explored, together with a specific session to be organised by the ARR for BIRTO26, which we hope will attract more papers on Radiobiology and fundamental research pertinent to clinical Radiotherapy and Imaging, especially from early career researchers.

Item Type:	Poster
Divisions:	Faculty of Health & Life Sciences Faculty of Health & Life Sciences > Inst. Population Health
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	26 Sep 2025 08:19
Last Modified:	26 Sep 2025 08:19
DOI:	10.13140/RG.2.2.13459.80169
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3194604
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