LhARA Executive Board 15Jun22; 16:00 GMT

Present: KL, CW, PP, TG, JPar

Agenda

1. Notes and actions: All
   
   • Status of actions:
     • KL contact Leo Cancer Care
       • Done. No response yet.
     • KL initiate creation of "master JeS"
       • Done. STFC internal discussions about how to take this forward underway.
     • KL contact Director PPD and the relevant programme manager in the Programmes Directorate of STFC.
       • Done. Conversation with S. Verth STFC PD next Monday. Conversation with D. Newbold Director STFC PPD pending.
     • KL will organise a meeting with AG, JPar, and YP to find a set of targets for proposals from verious UK funding agencies and the EU.
       • Done. Report below.
     • KL will follow up with Wellcome to ask for a response to our letter of introduction.
       • Stands.

2. External review of proposal; ToR: All
   
   • All were happy with the draft ToR. Agreed to continue.

3. LhARA and the ITRF: alignment progress: All
   
   • Working Methods document needs to be updated. KL to raise with H.Owen.
   • CW discussed status of definition of programme to be carried out supported by the ITRF resource. Headlines of the discussion:
     • WP1: need to define principle goals, will discuss under item 4 below.
     • WP2: clear plan agreed; maintenance of credible consumable budget is an issue.
     • WP3: discussion cancelled due to illness.
     • WP4: discussion not scheduled yet. Direction of travel clear.
     • WP5: clear plan agreed. Unlikely to be able to do much/any cyclotron work.
     • WP6: discussion not scheduled yet. Tacit agreement about what the programme will be. We noted that we needed to clarify whether there is a confict of interest for N.Bliss given his role as overall ITRF Project Manager.
   • Overleaf; document prepared to define programme (cost, schedule, milestones, risks, etc.).
     • Agreed need to add section to recognised contributions in cash or in kind so that funding for the programme being executed is clearly defined.
   • Also discussed with WPMs (where there were meetings) opportunities for proposals to raise the missing resource.
   • Agreed: Need to get the project meetings more "professionally" organised now. Collaboration meetings need now to be set at least a year in advance. Kick-off meeting in October. Probably then another meeting after 4 months, then a 6-monthly schedule.
   • Agreed: to ask DK to to set start date in Gantt now that the funding announcement has been made.

4. Raising the resources for the initiative: KL, All
   Slides
   • See slides, points noted:
     • Key goals for WP1:
       • Support collaboration in making bids with a value of ~£500k onthe timecale of Christmas 2022;
       • Seek to secure and additional £1.5M--£2M into LhARA programme over the Preliminary Activity.
       • In consultation with WP5, agree goals for user, community, and public engagement.
     • We discussed the importance of evaluating the importance of the study of normal tissue response.

5. DONM
   • 07Jul22

6. AoB
   • We discussed the outreach activity to be developed following the ITRF announcement and agreed we would:
     • Follow up with Action Radiotherapy;
     • Develop a "press release from the LhARA collaboration"
     • Encorage LhARA institutes to make their own, local, outreach activity to promote the progamme (action TG)
   • For future meeting, discuss:
     • Does LhARA need to establish a charity that can receive money to be used to promote the collaboration's programme;
     • The collaboration agreement.

Summary actions

• KL Liaise with H.Owen et al over working methods document;
• KL Liaise with DK and others over collaboration meeting dates;
• TG Liaise with IB and others to encourage institute-specific outreach activities on the back of the ITRF announcement.

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