ESTRO Annual Report 2020

Editorial

As we envisaged, about half the number of both delegates and exhibitors participated compared with 2019. This was amilestone in itself, considering the prevailing circumstances. We are thankful for the engagement and effort of the speakers and the scientific programme committee who made this possible, as well as for the steadfast support of our corporate partners. Our journals are in good health. There was a significant increase in the number of abstracts that were submitted to some of our Society journals. Have a look at the numbers in the science section. A repository of Covid-19 relevant publications, surveys and studies was set up by ESTRO out of necessity to meet the professional needs of the radiotherapy community in responding to the pandemic, and it has been published on the ESTRO website. Resources are available at: https://www. estro.org/https/www-estro-org/About/Newsroom/ COVID-19-and-Radiotherapy Education In 2020 the ESTRO School adapted its activity programme to full online education in order to ensure that training was continuous and to keep the radiotherapy community united. While its offerings were limited, the School still reached out to a large audience, and expanded its geographical reach. We offered 10 courses and drew over 1000 attendees, which was a good result compared with 2019 if we consider the figures in proportion to the number of courses. The ESTRO School always endeavours to review its core curriculum, to ensure that the professional skills of ourmembers are kept up to datewith recent advances. In 2020 the clinical oncology module for the ESTRO core curriculum was developed and published as an addition to the fourth edition of the ESTRO core curriculum in radiation oncology/ radiotherapy. Last year saw also the start of the review for medical physics experts in radiotherapy. Partnerships During2020,westrengthenedthedialoguewithmany oncology and radiotherapy societies worldwide. We reinforced and enlarged collaboration by signing and renewing a large number of memoranda of understanding. Partnership is a key word for ESTRO.

The publication of the annual report is an important moment for the European SocieTy for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO). It enables us to look back at the achievements of the past 12 months. Without a doubt, 2020 has been an exceptional year. With all our activities being impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been an interesting exercise to write this report, look at the figures and appreciate the challenges that we have faced. We hope you will enjoy reading the report and that you find it informative and inspirational, so that we can be ready to face the years to come with increased strength due to the experience we gained in 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic obliged us to reorganise every aspect of life and work: the activities in all radiotherapy departments had to be rethought; the format of meetings and gatherings had to be reconsidered; and so on. The very core of ESTRO activities has been deeply impacted. You will observe this both in the various sections of the report and in the financial outline. However, while we cannot deny that it has been a complicated year for ESTRO and for all of us, we can be very proud of what we have achieved and howwe have turned the complex scenario of Covid-19 into an opportunity to improve and to embrace change. With this in mind, I would like to bring to your attention some of the highlights of the year. Membership The membership base remained stable in 2020, with almost 7600 members. This was a small decrease of about 2% from the 2019 figures. There must be a special mention of the institutional membership, which continued to increase last year. Thismembership promotes both interdisciplinarity and collaboration within the departments. In 2020 we saw also an increase in joint membership agreements. We are grateful to each one of you for confirming your trust in the Society.

Science & Dissemination In 2020 ESTRO held its first online congress. This was a great challenge but also a great achievement.

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