Course Report

Research course in radiotherapy physics - PDF Version

27-30 March 2022, online

My name is Emma Riis Skarsø. I am currently in the first year of my PhD at the Department of Experimental Clinical Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.

My supervisor recommended that I attend this course, and after looking into the curriculum, I found that the course content would be extremely valuable in terms of learning how to write up a successful research project and improve my skills in presentation.

The most interesting and educative part of this course for me was the presentation and discussion of my project with the faculty. The course was attended by 10 teachers and 18 students, so there was plenty of chance to pay attention to each project. The presence of many staff meant that it was possible to discuss projects individually after each presentation round. This focus of the course on discussion, presentation and improvement of each person’s research project enabled me to learn what I should focus on and how to present it correctly in order to communicate the right message.

Participation in this intense process with highly experienced teachers was a challenge. However, now I feel much more confident about my current project and about formulating new research questions and grant proposals.

The most important point I took away from the course was that I should focus on the potential clinical impact of my research. I learned that researchers should ask themselves which professionals in their fields could use their research and how the researchers could convince their colleagues that their research was important and relevant.

The course is designed for researchers who are considering a research project or are aiming to produce a scientific paper, an abstract or a grant proposal. As a new PhD student, I chose to submit a project proposal for a research question that I had recently started to investigate. The project proposal was greatly improved during this course, and the staff helped me to narrow down the research question to a simplified but impactful presentation. This will be useful not only when I start the project, but also when I present potential results and explain why my research is useful.

I would strongly encourage PhD students, researchers and others who are considering applying for grants and/or starting to formulate their research questions to attend this course. The course provides positivity regarding the important focus points, not only in a grant proposal, but also in project presentations in general.

Emma Riis Skarsø
PhD student
Department of Experimental Clinical Oncology
Aarhus University Hospital
Aarhus, Denmark
emskar@rm.dk