The Health Research Authority has worked with its Four Nations Radiation Assurance Working Group, which includes Medical Physics Experts (MPEs), Clinical Radiation Experts (CREs), and the Administration of Radioactive Substances Advisory Committee (ARSAC), to update guidance in IRAS regarding ionising radiation. Most of the guidance is aimed at applicants, but some is also useful for sites which participate in research.
The question specific guidance on the IRAS project filter page has been updated on the questions “Does the study involve the use of any ionising radiation?” and “Does the study involve exposure to radioactive materials?”. It now gives examples of some of the most common ionising and non-ionising procedures used in research applications. This should help applicants to identify how to answer these questions; answering “yes” to them leads to various additional questions in Part B Section 3 of IRAS being made available.
There is also updated guidance about how to identify whether ionising radiation procedures in an application would be considered as research exposures, and therefore will assist applicants in completing the project filter page correctly.
The new guidance is available on the Help section of IRAS.