Advancing knowledge in Radiobiological Effects of Protons
Last month, QUASAR Group member Jacinta Yap spent two weeks on secondment at CERN. She was hosted by the FLUKA team and spent her time working alongside OMA Fellow Giulia Aricò in the EN-STI-FLUKA section, as well as her colleagues in the beam machine interactions section.
Jacinta described being amongst a different research atmosphere and interacting with many different people working on diverse projects as an energising experience. Home to the Large Hadron Collider, CERN is the largest particle physics laboratory in the world, bringing together and training people from all around the world to investigate the fundamental questions of our universe.
Jacinta was able to gain insight into the dynamics and operations of a large scale, international research organisation and how each individual and section contributes to wider objectives. Many different groups focus on work across different fields of sciences, including many areas applicable to the OMA project. As Jacinta and Giulia both work on projects involving Monte Carlo simulations, the secondment provided an opportunity for many related discussions and collaborative avenues of work. In particular, they are investigating opportunities for linking beam transport simulation outcomes to treatment planning studies. This might enable more precise cancer treatment planning for a specific clinical facility
In addition to this work, Jacinta also had a chance to visit different LHC experiments and learn more about the massive detector systems and related physical concepts. The secondment was a thoroughly enjoyable and valuable experience for Jacinta and she looks forward to applying what she has learnt to her project and career.
Also, as the QUASAR Group has several members based at CERN , there were many familiar faces and names around!