Professor Graeme Burt from the School of Engineering has successfully coordinated a high-level international training workshop in Ghana to strengthen radiotherapy capacity across the African continent.
The week-long workshop in Accra was hosted by the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission's Radiological and Medical Sciences Research Institute (RAMSRI) as part of the Supra-African Physics Partnership for Health Innovation and Radiotherapy Expansion (SAPPHIRE) project.
SAPPHIRE is a two‑year programme funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) led by the University of Oxford in collaboration with Lancaster University, the University of Cambridge, and researchers from all cancer centres in Ghana and Pretoria, South Africa.
The two-year initiative is designed to address critical challenges in cancer care delivery in Africa including a shortage of skilled medical physicists and engineers, limited access to advanced radiotherapy technologies, and the frequent breakdown of medical linear accelerator (LINAC) machines essential for cancer treatment.
Professor Burt said: "A key goal of Sapphire has been to empower the African partners to deliver training in Africa, by Africans, to African medical physicists, with UK support in some specific areas, and this workshop really demonstrated that this powerful concept can work and hopefully be repeated."
The workshop served as a strategic platform for building human resource capacity and enhancing technical expertise in radiotherapy. Participants included medical physicists, clinicians, engineers, and researchers drawn from Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, the UK, Canada, and the United States.
The Acting Director-General of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Professor Francis Hasford, highlighted the importance of international collaboration, saying that the SAPPHIRE Project provides a unique framework for technology transfer, research cooperation, and shared learning between African institutions and global leaders in accelerator science and medical physics.
The Director of RAMSRI, Dr Theodosia Adom, said that despite growing demand for cancer treatment, many African countries continue to face significant barriers, including inadequate infrastructure, equipment downtime, and a shortage of trained specialists.
"By strengthening technical capacity in accelerator science and improving the operational performance and sustainability of medical linear accelerator systems, the SAPPHIRE Project directly addresses some of the most critical barriers to effective cancer treatment delivery."
The workshop featured an intensive programme combining theoretical lectures, practical training sessions, and field-based learning experiences. Dr Robert Apsimon gave a lecture and Research Associate Conor McFarlane from the School of Engineering ran lab sessions.
Participants also engaged in hands-on engineering sessions, including simulation-based training using specialized software (SIMAC), with access provided for continued learning beyond the workshop period.
As part of the practical component, participants undertook technical visits to key national facilities, including the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission and the National Radiotherapy Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Centre at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
