On Friday, 13 December 2024, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the ICTP, Budinich Lecture Hall, and remotely (Zoom), the ‘Graduation Ceremony’ of the Master's Degree Course in Medical Physics will take place.

The safe and effective application of imaging, radiotherapy and radiation dosimetry technologies requires the involvement of experienced medical physicists. According to assessments by international organisations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), there is a worldwide shortage of professionals in Medical Physics, both clinical and academic medical physicists. Medical Physics was defined as a Health Profession by the United Nations International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 2011.

In order to help meet this need, the University of Trieste and the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) jointly organised the 2nd Level Master's Degree Course in Medical Physics, the aim of which is to prepare clinical medical physicists with an educational pathway consistent with the international guidelines formulated by the IAEA. Every year, the same Agency offers numerous scholarships to master's degree graduates in physics who wish to prepare themselves to work as medical physicists and who are in countries where such postgraduate training is not offered locally.

The course is in English and includes an intensive first year of lectures and tutorials followed by a second year of supervised clinical internship at a large network of Italian hospitals, with the support of the Italian Association of Medical Physics (AIFM).

The programme is accredited by the International Organisation of Medical Physics (IOMP).

Almost 200 physicists from 72 countries (48% from Africa, 22% from Asia, 21% from Latin America, 8% from Europe, 1% Oceania) graduated in the first ten years; over 30% are women.

The vast majority of the graduates have returned to their respective countries and are now working in local hospitals, helping to improve the quality of services to patients, especially those suffering from oncological diseases.

The complete programme of the ceremony, all information and the link to connect remotely can be found in the attachment below.