In 2017, with support from the Rising Generations Group of the United Kingdom Society for Radiation Protection, the Young Professionals Group of the French Society for Radiation Protection conducted a global survey of young professionals engaged in radiation protection [1]. This survey successfully collected data on participants’ educational backgrounds, current positions, and other demographic factors, providing a comprehensive overview of the professional group. However, the survey did not include questions about the research environment or themes relevant to young professionals. A more recent survey of young professionals in the field of radiation protection was conducted in 2021 [2]. The aforementioned study focused on the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on young radiation protection professionals. However, similar to the previous survey, it did not place specific emphasis on the research environment or themes relevant to these professionals.

The current study aimed to investigate the demographics, research environment, and research themes of the Young Researchers Association (YRA) of the Japanese Health Physics Society (JHPS). By identifying the research environments of these young researchers, this study intended to provide foundational data for academic societies and government agencies to create policies that support the development and research activities of young researchers.

The survey was conducted from July to November 2023 by using a web-based questionnaire available online. It was distributed through a mailing list, to which all members of the YRA of the JHPS were registered. Participants were informed of the purpose of the survey and participation guidelines before answering a total of 22 questions, including eight questions on demographics and employment, seven on educational background and research themes, and seven on funding and support. The first section of the survey was aimed at collecting general demographic information (e.g., age and sex) and employment details (e.g., current job and employment type). The second section was intended to gather information on educational background (e.g., highest degree attained and research theme at the final academic level) and research themes (e.g., research topics and methods). The final section was aimed at obtaining information on research funding (e.g., travel expenses and research grants).

Some variables from open-ended responses on research themes were recorded for analysis. Specifically, research themes were categorized similarly to that by the International Commission on Radiological Protection committees: ‘biological effects,’ ‘dosimetry,’ ‘radiation protection in medicine,’ and ‘implementation of radiation protection policies,’ with all other themes classified as ‘other.’ Most of the survey questions were multiple-choice, with respondents having the option to select more than one answer, and there were a few open-ended questions.

Based on survey results, an analysis was conducted to explore ways to improve job satisfaction and foster young researchers. To examine job satisfaction, the relationship between the workplace research environment and professional fulfillment was evaluated. Specifically, the dependency of responses on ‘job satisfaction’ and ‘intention to continue for 5 years’ based on the following factors representing the workplace research environment was analyzed: ‘employment type,’ ‘whether the work is related to radiation protection,’ ‘research opportunities,’ ‘allowances for research-related travel,’ and ‘financial support for research.’ To explore how best to foster young researchers, who could engage in research was first examined. Thus, the relationship between research opportunities and the factors of ‘age,’ ‘sex,’ and ‘employment type’ were analyzed. The dependency of the responses on these factors was tested using Pearson’s chi-square test [3], with a p-value of less than 0.05 considered statistically significant.

Out of 126 YRA members, 66 responded to the survey. Most respondents were male (77.3%). The age distribution was as follows: 25–29 years, 19.7%; 30–34 years, 37.9%; and 35–40 years, 42.4%.

This survey received responses from 66 of the approximately 100 YRA members of the JHPS. Given a confidence level of 95% and assuming a normal distribution for the test statistics, the margin of error was approximately 9%. Because the survey was distributed to all members of the association by using a mailing list without bias in the distribution, the selection bias was considered to be small. To the best of our knowledge, this survey is the first of its kind to collect reliable data on the research activities of young professionals in radiation protection, both in Japan and globally.

We found that 65.3% of the respondents were engaged in research related to ‘dosimetry’ and ‘applications.’ The survey suggests that only approximately 10% of the respondents focused on ‘effects’ and ‘medicine’ as their primary research themes. However, Japan is home to several major societies, such as the Japanese Radiation Research Society, which specializes in ‘effects,’ and the Japan Society of Medical Physics and the Japanese Society of Radiological Technology, which include radiation protection in medicine among their research themes. For example, the Japanese Radiation Research Society has approximately 800 members and the Japan Society of Radiological Technology has over 15,000 members, indicating that Japan has sufficient human resources to cover a wide range of International Commission on Radiological Protection-related research themes.

To clarify the directions for future actions, we focused on those statistically or marginally significant relationships identified in this study that pertain to research activities, specifically the associations between ‘intent to continue job and research funding’ and ‘research opportunities and age.’ Regarding research funding, 91.5% of respondents who engaged in research as part of their work indicated that they were eligible to apply for Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI), which has an annual budget of approximately 200 billion yen. However, we acknowledge a limitation of this study, in that it did not collect data on application status or acceptance rates, which are critical metrics for developing more detailed support policies. Only four respondents (6.1%) reported a lack of access to research funding, suggesting that sufficient resources were available to most researchers. Nevertheless, among technicians (n=24), only six reported receiving research funds and five reported being able to apply for such funding, indicating that securing research resources, including time and effort for research, may be more challenging for technicians compared with researchers. This difficulty may be related to their intent to continue in their current positions. Moreover, the analysis of fostering young researchers indicates that older young professionals have more research opportunities. While support from academic societies is important, younger professionals may also need to make efforts to effectively utilize such systems. Training in grant writing and research planning could help them fully benefit from these opportunities. Mentorship programs led by senior researchers or competitive research grants specifically aimed at young researchers in academic societies could be effective strategies.

Members of the YRA displayed a wide range of research interests, including detector development, epidemiological studies, nuclear disaster response analysis, environmental monitoring, Monte Carlo simulations, and artificial intelligence. Our findings highlight the importance of providing support for a broad range of research areas. Supporting initiatives led by young researchers with innovative ideas, as well as ensuring accessible research funding opportunities, could lead to significant advances in radiation protection research.