6th Summer School in Medical Physics 2024: Radiation Detector Concepts for Medical Physics

We are happy to announce our 6th Summer School in Medical Physics about Radiation Detector Concepts for Medical Physics, to be held in August and September 2024. The course is organized under the auspices of the Heidelberg Institute of Radiation Oncology (HIRO) in close cooperation with our partners (see below).

The 6th Summer School is subdivided into an online phase of about four weeks and an attendance phase of one week. The attendance phase is organized as hybrid model, such that all sessions of the attendance phase are additionally available online as a live online phase via Zoom. Thus, participants can decide to follow the course online and on site or 100% virtually.

The online phase with pre-recorded lectures and online sessions introduces the basics in medical physics for radiation therapy and radiology. The most important mechanisms and applications of radiation detectors for medical physics will be explained in a broad context ranging from high-energy physics to newest developments in medical imaging. The hybrid attendance phase will then focus on specific detector applications for dosimetry & QA in radiotherapy, for image guidance and last but not least for research, e.g. related to FLASH therapy, photon-counting CT or measuring radiation quality for advancements in dosimetry.

Scheduled interactive sessions and discussions, a science slam as well as a poster session during the course will allow the attendees to exchange thoughts and ideas with each other and our teaching experts.

We are happy to receive your applications as well as abstracts for the science slam or the poster session. Please note: you can apply for participation without submitting an abstract for the science slam or the poster session.

Our 6th summer school is designed for national and international PhD, MSc or BSc students or young scientists with a background in Physics, Medical Physics, Medical Engineering or similar. 

Ca. 25 participants can attend 100% virtually, ca. 25 participants can attend online and on site in Heidelberg.

Once successfully completed, participants will get a certificate of attendance including supplement with 4 ECTS points, issued by the German Cancer Research Center and our partners.

We are very happy to announce prizes for the science slam as well as for the poster session. Therefore, we invite all applicants to submit abstracts for the science slam or the poster session (in addition to the regular application documents). However, you can also apply without abstracts. More information about the prizes follows soon. 

Our 6th summer school starts with an online phase of about three weeks. During this period, participants get access to the virtual learning platform Moodle which provides all learning materials such as pre-recorded video lectures and lecture notes as PDFs as well as short tasks. Furthermore, mandatory live online sessions via Zoom with experts from Heidelberg and other national and international experts are scheduled during this online phase (days and times see "Dates and Program").

The online phase is concluded with the first mandatory online test consisting of multiple-choice questions about all topics taught during the online phase. The test can be done during the last two weeks of the online phase whenever participants have time, and its successful completion (50% of points indicated) is a prerequisite to participate in the attendance phase or the live online phase.

Please also download and read our technical requirements to attend our virtual summer school.

The attendance phase in Heidelberg is hosted as a hybrid event and thus, all sessions are available as a so-called live online phase to those who attend online only.

Lectures by our national and international experts are scheduled during the morning sessions. Interactive sessions, the science slam and the poster session as well as interactive discussion rounds take place during the afternoon to strengthen active participation and to initiate scientific exchange between experts and participants.

The whole summer school is concluded with the second mandatory online test (multiple-choice questions) about all topics taught during the attendance phase or live online phase (duration see "Dates and Program").

Our networking activities such as Get Together or the Guided Tours (e.g. to the new building "Imaging and Radiology" at the DKFZ or to the Heidelberg University Hospital) are only available to on-site participants.

Once the application is accepted, on-site participants will get a code to book a room themselfs at special rates in a hotel in Heidelberg. Traveling costs for on-site participants such as train tickets, costs for accomodation as well as living expenses have to be covered by on-site participants themselfs.

The hybrid attendance phase takes place simultaneously on Zoom and on site in Heidelberg at the following venue: 

The address of the venue is:

German Cancer Research Center
Communication Center, Seminar room K1/K2 (1st floor)
Im Neuenheimer Feld 280
DE-69120 Heidelberg
Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/Pyq26ZDENVaXyGqX6 
How to get there: https://www.dkfz.de/de/dkfz/anfahrt.html

Fees for online/on-site participation:

PhD students and young scientists: €125
Master's & Bachelor's students: €75

Fee for online attendance:

€60 for all online participants

Payments can only be done either by Credit Card or Wire Transfer/Invoice. The candidates will receive all relevant information to initiate the payment by email once their participation is accepted and confirmed. Please only register for the course, if you can use one of our two payment options. Please note: Neither on-site/cash payments nor payments by Paypal are possible.

Application Procedure

Start of Application: mid-March 2024

Application Deadline: June 17th 2024

Confirmation of acceptance: mid-July 2024

Once the application is accepted, each participant gets further instructions on how to pay the fees either by Credit Card or by wire transfer based on an invoice.

To see more information about the application procedure as well as to finally submit your application and your possible abstract for the science slam or the poster session, please click on "Application and Abstracts" below. Applications by e-mail cannot be accepted.

Prof. Oliver Jäkel, PhD

Head of the Division of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, DKFZ, Heidelberg
Head of Medical Physics at the Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center (HIT)
Professor for Medical Physics at the Medical Faculty Heidelberg of Heidelberg University

Prof. Jürgen Debus, MD, PhD

Medical Director of the Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center (HIT) and of the Department of Radiation Oncology and Radiation Therapy at the Heidelberg University Hospital
Vice Dean at the Medical Faculty Heidelberg of Heidelberg University

Mária Martišíková, PhD

Group Leader of the Research Group: Novel Detection Techniques for Ion Beams

Tim Gehrke, PhD

Deputy Group Leader of the Research Group: Novel Detection Techniques for Ion Beams

Laurent Kelleter, PhD

Post-Doc in the Research Group: Novel Detection Techniques for Ion Beams

José Vedelago, PhD

Group Leader of the Research Group: Translation Research for Ion Beam Therapy

Please feel free to contact us by email to symposium.medphys@dkfz-heidelberg.de if you have any questions.

Local Organizing Team

Anna Moshanina, Dr. Simone Barthold-Beß, Marcel Schäfer
Division of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology

German Cancer Research Center
Im Neuenheimer Feld 280
DE-69120 Heidelberg, Germany

Phone: +49-6221/42-3481