ESTRO 2025 - Abstract Book

S2180

Interdisciplinary – Education in radiation oncology

ESTRO 2025

References: Raja M, Yuvaraajan E. A RAG-based Medical Assistant Especially for Infectious Diseases. In 2024 International Conference on Inventive Computation Technologies (ICICT) 2024 Apr 24 (pp. 1128-1133). IEEE.

2217

Digital Poster Addressing national barriers for UK clinical oncology trainees in radiotherapy research Shannon Rowlands 1 , Richard Adams 2,3 , Jonathan Helbrow 1 , Daniah Thomas 1 , Sarah Gwynne 1

1 South West Wales Cancer Centre, South West Wales Cancer Centre, Swansea, United Kingdom. 2 Centre for Trials Research, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom. 3 Velindre Cancer Centre, Velindre Cancer Centre, Cardiff, United Kingdom Purpose/Objective: In recent years, the number of UK academic clinical oncologists has declined. 1 Previous surveys had shown the current clinical oncology trainee workforce had a strong interest in research, but there were significant challenges in being research active, including limitations in infrastructure, clinical workload, and a lack of awareness of available research opportunities. UK clinical oncology trainees have specific activities in their training curriculum that allow them to demonstrate competence in both radiotherapy and systemic anti-cancer therapy but this does not extend to clinical research competence. We set out to increase engagement, awareness and greater involvement in research, by seeking to create a competency framework for trainees in Wales (a devolved nation of the UK). Material/Methods: Thirteen clinical oncology consultants and eleven trainees ranked research activities and competencies from basic (1) to higher level (4) to establish expectations at each stage of training, including, but not limited to, the research components of the clinical oncology curriculum. A modified delphi approach involving twenty research-active oncology consultants provided feedback on the appropriateness of these competencies for each training year. Results: Forty research competencies were categorised into three groups; year 1-2, year 3-5 and research oriented trainees (table 1), covering a range of topics.

The responsibility for providing the support to enable trainees to achieve the competencies will be the responsibility of the training programme. Initiatives developed include regular teaching sessions, dedicated time in an early phase