Kamal Hossain International Secondment Scheme blog three

3 minute read

Month 3: Visit to London (Ontario) and TRIUMF.

Hi, my name is Sam Flynn and I’m from the Radiotherapy and Radiation Dosimetry (RadDos) group at NPL. This blog is part of the Kamal Hossain International Secondment Scheme, where I have been on secondment to our Canadian counterparts at the National Research Council’s Metrology Research Group in Ottawa. Read my last blog post if you missed it.

It is hard to believe that three months have already passed by, and I am back in the UK for a summer break. The final month at NRC ended up being very exciting. We finished the measurement campaign to reestablish radiation quality conversion correction factors for x-ray radiotherapy. This is another subtle difference between the British/Canadian approach to radiation dosimetry, following the local code of practice (TG-51) Canadian radiotherapy centres receive a calibration coefficient in a reference beam quality and convert it to the relevant therapeutic energy, whilst here in the UK we do direct calibrations in the clinical radiation energies. There are many advantages of both systems (definitely too many for a blog, but please ask me about them!), so contextualising this and appreciating the finer differences was a very worthwhile activity, especially in the context of developing future codes of practice for emerging forms of radiotherapy. There’s a lot of very exciting forms of radiotherapy that are still being evaluated at the preclinical stage, and having this international context for how existing radiotherapy is implemented is invaluable.

This year the Canadian Organisation of Medical Physics Annual Scientific Meeting (COMP ASM) was held in London, Ontario. It was an excellent opportunity to attend and learn more about the Canadian perspective on Medical Physics. Canada, spanning a vast geographic area with (relatively) low population density has vastly different challenges to the UK. I was fortunate to have an opportunity to present some of my NPL research to the international audience, prompting interesting questions and discussions. I enjoyed spending the weekend doing some local sightseeing, checking out familiar attractions such as St Paul’s Cathedral, catching up on some shopping at Covent Garden Market and on Oxford Street, before having a relaxing walk along the Thames river – it definitely made me homesick!

Although it wasn’t part of the original plan for my secondment, I was fortunate to be invited to join the National Research Council (NRC) team conducting water calorimetry measurements at TRIUMF in Vancouver. TRIUMF is Canada’s national particle accelerator centre and a hub for cutting-edge research in nuclear physics, particle physics, and medical applications. It houses the country’s only proton beam accelerator, which is used for both scientific and medical research. In contrast to the UK, which currently has three NHS facilities offering proton beam therapy, Canada does not yet have a clinical proton therapy centre. However, several provinces are actively exploring the development of such facilities, and the work being done at TRIUMF contributes valuable data and expertise to support these efforts. Participating in this project offered a unique opportunity to engage with Canada’s scientific infrastructure and learn more about the country’s ambitions in advanced cancer treatment. By conducting this measurement campaign now, the team at NRC are able to ensure that all of the metrological infrastructure in place to ensure that patients receive the best possible quality of care. NPL has significant experience operating in proton beam therapy centres, both domestically and internationally, so it was a great opportunity to exchange knowledge.
As mentioned, I’m back in the UK for a few months now – I’ll write another blog later in the year when I’m back in Ottawa. Have a great summer everyone!


Image caption: Photograph of me at the TRIUMF site and with the team from NRC

24 Jul 2025