MSc Medical Physics in Cancer Radiation Therapy / Course details

The unit will provide the students with the following knowledge and practical skills:

• Students will conduct a research project with one of the research or clinical medical physics groups.
• Introduce relevant research methodologies, providing students with the opportunity to develop a detailed understanding of these techniques.
• Students will draw from the taught units, applying knowledge and methodologies to a practical medical physics research project.
• Students will build experience in understanding uncertainties in their experiments and critically appraising results.
• Students will build on their ability in reading, understanding and interpreting the medical physics literature to understand the context and rational behind their project.
• Gain an understanding of how to choose appropriate statistical techniques for data analysis, including where to draw from emerging statistical techniques being employed within medical physics and cancer radiation therapy. For example, the adoption of casual inference approaches.
• Further develop skills in research dissemination - scientific report writing, scientific presenting and scientific poster design.
• Application of scientific leadership skills through an expected level of independence in leading their project and setting the direction of experiments. The development of these skills will be support through regular scheduled supervision meetings.

This unit will provide students with hands-on experience of conducting research in medical physics. Projects will take place with academics in the medical physics research groups or with honorary university members based with Christie Medical Physics and Engineering. The students will be expected to understand the literature and rational for the project, conduct the data collection and analysis, and critically examine their results. They will use and build on skills learnt from the taught modules throughout their project. The students will gain further experience in research dissemination with the project written in the style of a technical medical physics paper and presented through presentations or posters.

The following learning and teaching processes will be utilised: Interactive group sessions and tutorials, on-line resources, independent study, experimental work, project supervision.

Students should/will be able to:

• Ability to identify and critic medical physics scientific literature related to their project, defining the need and rational for the research.
• Apprise and apply appropriate scientific methodologies and analysis techniques needed within their research project.
• Utilise different forms of scientific dissemination approaches in communicating results from their research project.

Students should/will be able to:

• Determine the most suitable experimental and statistical approaches required in their research project.
• Evaluate medical physic scientific papers, including an examination of the statistical robustness of the manuscript.

Students should/will be able to:

• Select and perform experimental and data analysis methodologies, including estimation of uncertainty with medical physics research.
• Develop scientific leadership skills in managing an experimental research project.
• Ability to confidently communicate their experimental project through a scientific report and other forms of scientific dissemination.

Students should/will be able to:

• Apply analytical skills to systematically analyse evidence.
• Technical: Practical experience in medical physics research.

Feedback will be provided within the required timeframe.