Faculty members:

Aileen Duffton aileen.duffton@ggc.scot.nhs.uk

Yat Tsang yat.tsang@uhn.ca

Siret Kivistik siretkivistik@nooruse.ee

Pia Krause Moeller pia.krause.moeller@rsyd.dk

Short title: Radiation Therapist Research landscape

Keywords: Radiation Therapist; Research; Clinical academic

Motivation:

To ensure radiation therapists (RTTs) deliver the highest standard of patient care and continually improve service, research skills are required. For the RTT profession, these skills are necessary to underpin evidence-based practice, encourage critical thinking, and deliver innovative care. These are especially important in an environment where technology and their applications are rapidly evolving.

Historically, RTTs lack a strong research culture compared to other healthcare disciplines and often clinical practice is prioritised over academic research. Structural barriers, such as limited funding, unclear career pathways, and the absence of established infrastructure inhibits the development of RTT research career progression.

Although research skills are essential at all levels of RTT practice, it should be formally considered for those in advanced practice roles. Advanced practice for RTT is internationally well established, supported by the ESTRO RTTC. A key aspect of advanced practice is the requirement to contribute to knowledge in the field through research. However, there are still many challenges in formalising research as an essential domain within job plans, preventing the profession from optimising their engagement with research.

The proposed output of this workshop will be a position paper informed by the outcomes of the workshop, with a focus on increasing future research activities by RTTs. This will provide detail on a strategic direction that can enable stakeholders to change the research culture within the profession.