LIP participates in IST Physics Week with talk on radiation
"Three LIP students introduced high school students to the applications of radiation in health and space exploration."
On May 5th, LIP took part in the Physics Week at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) with a science outreach talk attended by around 60 10th-grade students. This annual event, organised by the IST Physics Student Group (NFIST), welcomes thousands of high school students from across the country, aiming to spark interest in physics through experiments, lab visits, short courses, and talks.
The 40-minute session was led by three young researchers from LIP: Gonçalo Ribeiro (PhD student, RADART group), Carolina Miranda (Master’s student, RADART group), and Bruna Lima (PhD student, SpaceRad group). The talk focused on the role of radiation in three distinct contexts: medical imaging, radiotherapy, and space exploration.
Carolina Miranda introduced the physical principles behind imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), highlighting their importance in medical diagnostics.
Next, Gonçalo Ribeiro presented the role of physics in radiotherapy, focusing on cutting-edge approaches like FLASH radiotherapy and ion therapy.
Bruna Lima closed the session with a presentation on the challenges posed by radiation in space missions. She highlighted LIP's work on the SPACERAD project, talking about the importance of the RADEM and BERM instruments in the study of different radiation environments in our Solar System, as well as simulations of the radiation scenarios expected to be encountered in future missions to Mars and the Moon.
