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What is its impact of the ICRP mentor- ship programme, recently launched? The ICRP mentorship programme was launched in 2019. The idea was to encour- age students and early-career profession- als to join ICRP and contribute to ICRP work. Mentees are assigned special tasks within a Task Group and benefit from a senior TG member acting as a mentor. As of March 2022 we have 16 mentees con- tributing to our work. New membership opportunities are announced on the ICRP website. Although a final assessment of the initiative is probably too early, we hope that it facilitates young scientists to join the field of radiological protection, network with other young members, discuss with and learn from established scientists in the field, and, in this way, get additional exper- tise which might enhance their career opportunities in their home countries. How has the ICRP addressed the diffi- culties associated with the COVID19 `s pandemic? Are there any changes intro- duced in the usual working methods within the ICRP or any particular lesson learnt from this health crisis? With a large membership spread across the globe, a lot of ICRP work was already being done remotely before the pandemic. Nonetheless, COVID19 has significantly influenced the way we operate. For obvious reasons face-to- face meetings were no more possible and we had to switch entirely to digi- tal meetings. This severely limited the personal interaction among the Main Commission, the Committees and the Task Groups. However, digital formats have some advantages including, for example, the possibility to organise meetings more frequently at lower cost, and avoidance of jet-lag after long-dis- tance travel. Overall, I think that the work efficiency of ICRP was only slight- ly compromised during the pandemic, although we all are looking forward to having personal meetings in the future. When looking at how the pandemic was handled by the various countries one aspect became very evident to me: Sound scientific evidence turned out to be the key in providing advice to the var- ious decision makers and getting accep- tance by the public. This observation confirmed me that the ICRP approach to deal with potential health risks after In recent years, the top three most cited are Publication 118 on tissue reactions, Publication 116 on external dose coefficients, and Publication 115 on lung cancer exposure with ionising radiation is right: To develop recommendations based on the latest scientific findings in close con- tact with all relevant stakeholders. SPAIN IN THE ICRP Eliseo Vañó is one of the most rec- ognized professionals in the world of radiological protection in Medicine, and is an emeritus member of the Main Commission. In addition, María Antonia López is sec- retary of Committee 2, dedicated to doses from radiation exposures, Josep Martí and Isabelle Thierry-Chef are members of Committee 3 on radiologi- cal protection in medicine, and Eduardo Gallego is member of Committee 4, on the application of Commission’s recom- mendations. How do you assess the participation of Spanish professionals in the different committees of the Commission? ICRP is extremely grateful that Span- ish scientists spend so much effort to support the mission of ICRP, and devote their time in various Task Groups and Committees. In addition to the five members you already mentioned, Almudena Real is a member of Task Group 99 working on protection of the environment. It’s great to see so many Spanish ICRP members covering a wide range of expertise. ICRPAEDIA The ICRPaedia gathers the basic infor- mation from the ICRP in relation to the System of Radiological Protection. What are the publications that gener- ate more interest from users? In recent years, the top three most cited are Publication 118 on tissue reactions, Publication 116 on external dose coef- ficients, and Publication 115 on lung cancer. The most downloaded in 2020 were Publication 135 on Diagnostic Ref- erence Levels, Publication 128 on dose to patients from radiopharmaceuticals, and Publication 142 on NORM. The “Free the Annals” initiative in 2018 was very successful. Thanks to this, all the ICRP publications are free to access except the current and two most recent volumes. Has the ICRP evaluated the impact in the scientific community of this free access to ICRP publications? We were extremely pleased at the gen- erosity of the radiological protection community that allowed us to make all but the most recent issues of Annals of the ICRP free to access. Downloads of our publications tripled to well over 200 000 in 2020, showing that there was a demand that can now be satisfied with the removal of the financial barrier. Entrevista  RADIOPROTECCIÓN • No 103 • Abril 2022 7 


































































































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