15th - 17th June 2015 | Brdo Castle, Slovenia

First International Conference on Risk Perception, Communication and Ethics of Exposures to Ionising Radiation (RICOMET 2015), which was held from 15th to 17th of June 2015 in Brdo Castle, Slovenia.

The conference was organized under the auspices of the three FP7 projects:

EAGLE: Enhancing Education, Training And Communication Processes For Informed Behaviors And Decision-Making Related To Ionizing Radiation Risks
OPERRA: Open Project for the European Radiation Research Area
PREPARE: Innovative integrated tools and platforms for radiological emergency preparedness and post-accident response in Europe

The 3 projects wanted to receive feedback from and foster discussion between the range of stakeholders, professionals, academics....

The conference is an opportunity for extensive exchange of results from the scientific research and  FP7 projects and discussions on public communication, risk perception and ethics in the field of all nuclear applications (e.g. industry, medicine, security), natural radioactivity (e.g. radon) and radiological protection (in nuclear and radiological emergency management, low doses, communicating uncertainty, mass media communication, public understanding of ionizing radiation, EU research needs …)

The conference involves an international level of different stakeholders; from experts for public communication, media representatives, researchers from social sciences, human and natural science, radiation protection officers, practitioners from nuclear medicine, nuclear power plant operators, to other nuclear industry professionals, nuclear safety authorities, project partners, but also NGOs and representatives from civil society.

Topics discussed at the conference are of great importance for European citizens and for the improvement of radiological risk governance in Europe. The conference itself contributes to the EU ideal of citizen-centred communication, including a participative component.

Papers presented at the conference will be peer reviewed and, upon acceptance, will be published in the special section of Journal of Radiological Protection (http://iopscience.iop.org/0952-4746/)

The Brdo estate, 10 minutes from the Ljubljana airport, offers the congress members great accommodation and a well-organized Congress Center in the middle of a nature park to fully enjoy the event (http://www.brdo.si/en).

An informal communication network day was organized on the pre-conference day, on 14th of June in order to extend your network and to discuss your observations and findings with colleagues from different disciplines during a tourist visit in Slovenia or rafting in the Soca valley for those with more adventure spirit.

A special accompanying person program offered interesting tourist activities during the conference on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

   
Dr. Tanja Perko,
Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK∙CEN), Belgium
Chair of the Organising Committee
  Dr. Pavel Gabriel Lazaro,
University Politehnica of Bucharest (UPB), Romania
Chair of the Scientific Program Committee
  Ms. Blanka Koron,
Regional Environmental Centre (REC), Slovenia
Head of the Conference Secretariat