Anna Holland from Sheffield Hallam University, Samuel Jones from the University of Liverpool and Jennifer Cotterell also from the University of Liverpool are the winners of this year’s student CoRIPS grants.
Each student will receive just over £1000 to carry out their research project with the support of their lecturers and academic supervisors.
Anna’s study, titled: Tattoo Avoidance in Breast Cancer RadioTherapy: The TACT studywill explore alternatives to using permanent tattoos for radiotherapy patients.
The study will evaluate whether surface landmark anatomy and portable ultrasound to guide daily positioning is a more suitable alternative.
Professor Heidi Probst, Professor of radiotherapy and oncology at SHU, commented: “Through this student CoRIPs award Anna will gain valuable experience of designing and implementing a research protocol in an area of need.
“The study outcomes will add valuable insight into new methods for the alignment of patients who are undergoing radiotherapy for breast cancer; potentially providing an alternative to permanent tattoos for some patients.”
Jennifer Cotterell, meanwhile, will carry out her project titled: Image quality optimisation in the cervical spine C1/C2 open mouth odontoid peg projection: a phantom study.
Anthony Stanley-Manning, Lecturer at the University of Liverpool, said: “It is great for us here at the University of Liverpool to have a successful student CoRIPS bid that will deliver a top quality image optimisation project.
“Jenny will gain first-hand experience of conducting research which will help inform her future career ambitions. At Liverpool the team recognise that early student engagement with research is becoming ever more important, and will help deliver the Society’s 2021 vision for research in the profession.”
Samuel Jones, meanwhile, will explore the feasibility of using automatic contour propagation to identify the rectum during MR-guided adaptive radiotherapy to the pelvis.
Mark Warren, Lecturer in Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy at the University of Liverpool said, “This is an amazing opportunity for Sam to work with myself and Alan McWilliam, a Radiotherapy Physics researcher from the Radiotherapy Related Research Group at The University of Manchester.
“The CoRIPs funding has been the key to getting this research up and running for many reasons. But this award is primarily about developing the next generation of researchers.
“Sam is able to get a real taste of what a researcher does, and at the end of the summer placement he will have research findings to publish.
“The CoRIPs fund has meant that he can develop these amazing skills rather than take an ordinary summer job, he is going to end up with a very impressive CV.”
Dr Rachel Harris, Professional and Education Manager at the Society said, “The student CoRIPS research award scheme is a great opportunity for undergraduates to experience and participate in some additional research under the supervision of an experienced research team.
“Congratulations to this year’s successful awardees, we look forward to seeing the outcomes of their work in the near future.”