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The “FutuRuS” working group of the Italian Association of Medical Physics and Health Physics (AIFM) designed a survey on the interest and commitment of AIFM members to scientific activities (SicAS). The aim was to 'catch' the experience of the members regarding their own scientific interests, participation in scientific activities and related possible difficulties, considering their working scenario, in order to focus future efforts of the Association for increasing the scientific activities of the medical physics expert (MPE).

SicAS was sent out in March 2022 to all AIFM members through a newsletter and official communication of the Association. SicAS was structured in three main sections: personal and institute information, involvement in scientific activities, interest and commitment to scientific activities. A definition of ‘scientific activity' has been shared as the introduction of the survey questionnaire. We collected the results of the questionnaire in fully anonymized mode between March and April 2022. Answers were picked up through the Google Forms platform and analyzed with descriptive statistics.

Out of 1289 AIFM members (active at the end of 2021), 467 responded to the survey leading to a response rate of 36%. When asking about continuing professional development, 97% of respondents declared that they used to attend at least one refresher course per year, with 27% attending more than five courses per year. During the last 5 years, over 73% of respondents have presented a poster or oral communication at national/international conferences and in 16.9% of cases as an invited talk. Moreover, a remarkable percentage of them (85% of respondents) joined international/national congresses at least once a year. AIFM members ranked as very highly relevant to the involvement of the MPE in scientific activities. However, 34.7% indicated devoting less than 10% of their working time to scientific activities, and only 9% dedicated more than 60%. 67.5% of the respondents were unsatisfied with the amount of time spent on scientific activities. Figure 1 shows the percentage of time dedicated to research activities during working hours grouped by role. The primary barrier (figure 2) indicated in scientific activities was lack of time (77%), followed by lack of mentoring (32%).

SicAS highlights the need for National Association initiatives to support members’ scientific activities. National Societies could help by developing and supporting networks among all members, creating links among universities, hospitals, research institutes and industries, and providing guideline definitions and learning platforms enhancing the members’ involvement in scientific activities of the MPEs. The FutuRuS group will keep promoting and supporting such topics. Hopefully other National Associations of MP will join such a journey, identifying common barriers and figuring out solutions and collaboration possibilities.