In April 2017, the five founding societies of EURAMED published a first strategic research agenda (SRA) for medical radiation protection, identifying five areas of radiation protection research as the most relevant and urgent for effective medical care: Measurement and quantification in the field of medical applications of ionising radiation; normal tissue reactions, radiation-induced morbidity and long-term health problems; optimisation of radiation exposure and harmonisation of practices; justification of the use of ionising radiation in medical practice; infrastructures for quality assurance.

This first medical SRA needs to be updated and expanded, by integrating new technological developments (e.g. in the field of artificial intelligence) and incorporating an integrated approach to medical radiation protection research involving all relevant stakeholders and relevant aspects of the SRAs of the other platforms, and incorporating new knowledge and recommendations from relevant research projects (e.g. http://www.medirad-project.eu/). In order to embark on this challenging endeavour, EURAMED has submitted a proposal to address the Horizon 2020 NFRP-13 call “Research roadmap for medical applications of ionising radiation”, with the key aim to focus on a patient-centred approach ensuring that research developments are sustainable and applicable to clinical practice, while at the same time fostering the integration process of radiation protection research in Europe.

In order to support this integration process, EURAMED has also become a partner of the CONCERT project, the European Joint Programme aiming to contribute to the sustainable integration of European and national research programmes in the field of radiation protection and has within the project participated in the development of a common European roadmap for radiation protection research.

EURAMED is also represented on the Stakeholder Board of the Horizon 2020 MEDIRAD project and will thus play an important role in the development of the science-based policy and stakeholder recommendations to improve medical radiation protection developed as key deliverables of the project.

In order to support the integration process and to understand and exploit synergies, EURAMED has also joined the umbrella network of European radiation protection platforms called MEENAS, by signing a relevant memorandum of understanding and attending the meetings of MEENAS.

Since becoming a legal entity in 2017, EURAMED also participated in several medical sessions in European and international radiation protection events, such as the European Radiation Protection Weeks in Rovinj/Croatia in 2018 and in Stockholm in October 2019 in order to present latest research and priorities in medical radiation protection research. Radiation protection research has also become an established part of the EuroSafe Imaging programme at the European Congresses of Radiology.