Scientific Advisory Committee recommends that RERF secure young researchers
Mar. 18, 2016
On March 4, the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF, located in Minami Ward, Hiroshima), which conducts surveys on the health of atomic bomb survivors and second-generations survivors, concluded that the aging of researchers will affect the basis of RERF’s activities and its vision for the future, and recommended that RERF secure young researchers as soon as possible.
The committee’s recommendation includes three points. As the average age of RERF researchers has reached 50, the committee asked the foundation to take measures to secure younger human resources. With regard to research, the committee urged the foundation to continually promote the risk analysis of cancers and other diseases caused by low-level radiation exposure. The committee would also like RERF to consider reducing the frequency of advisory committee meetings from once a year to once every two years to reduce the burden on researchers.
The Scientific Advisory Committee is composed of 12 professors from Japan and the United States. Since March 2, the committee has been discussing RERF’s system of research, and the research content, behind closed doors. At a press conference on March 4, Shunichi Yamashita, the joint chair of the advisory committee and the vice president of Nagasaki University, stressed that RERF should expedite the recruitment of young epidemiology and radiation biology specialists who can become core personnel in the study of low-level exposure to radiation in Fukushima. Referring to the significance of the age distribution, RERF president Otsura Niwa stated that the foundation should draw up a blueprint of its future vision and relocation within a year.
(Originally published on March 5, 2016)
The committee’s recommendation includes three points. As the average age of RERF researchers has reached 50, the committee asked the foundation to take measures to secure younger human resources. With regard to research, the committee urged the foundation to continually promote the risk analysis of cancers and other diseases caused by low-level radiation exposure. The committee would also like RERF to consider reducing the frequency of advisory committee meetings from once a year to once every two years to reduce the burden on researchers.
The Scientific Advisory Committee is composed of 12 professors from Japan and the United States. Since March 2, the committee has been discussing RERF’s system of research, and the research content, behind closed doors. At a press conference on March 4, Shunichi Yamashita, the joint chair of the advisory committee and the vice president of Nagasaki University, stressed that RERF should expedite the recruitment of young epidemiology and radiation biology specialists who can become core personnel in the study of low-level exposure to radiation in Fukushima. Referring to the significance of the age distribution, RERF president Otsura Niwa stated that the foundation should draw up a blueprint of its future vision and relocation within a year.
(Originally published on March 5, 2016)
