‘Little acts of kindness’: meet Dr Emma Hyde, the SoR’s new head of education and research

Dr Emma Hyde took the reins as president of the UKIO conference for the final time this year. During the event, she spoke to Synergy about her new role working inside the society

The UK Imaging and Oncology Congress (UKIO) is one of the busiest events in the radiography calendar. Held this year on 2-4 June at the ACC in Liverpool, the conference attracted more than 3,000 attendees, including 1,576 congress delegates and 255 exhibition visitors.

In the midst of UKIO’s bustling itinerary, Synergy caught up with Dr Emma Hyde, president of the conference, who was presiding over it for a second time. As well as overseeing the conference’s packed schedule, Emma was very much present in the programme itself, chairing several plenaries across the three days and attending sessions where possible.

Emma was appointed UKIO president in 2023 and subsequently headed up UKIO in 2024 and now 2025, succeeding former president Dr Rizwan Malik. With UKIO 2025 being her final go at it, how was she feeling as the conference rumbled on? “The second year, I have to say, was easier than my first,” Emma admits. “Last year, I was so nervous – if you could’ve seen me, my legs were shaking behind the lectern on the Monday morning. This year, they weren’t shaking quite so much.”

This ease came down to having experience from 2024 to draw on, she continues – a benefit of having a two-term presidency. “I think that’s a really nice thing about having a two-year term as president; it really does help you settle into it and understand the role – what’s coming, what needs doing, and understanding the whole process,” Emma explains. “It’s nice to be doing everything and to know what to expect.”

A distinguished background

Emma’s career success made her the ideal candidate to preside over a conference as popular and demanding as UKIO. She trained as a radiographer at Sheffield Hallam University from 1993 to 1996. She then went on to work clinically for 10 years in the East Midlands area – first as a radiographer at Nottingham University Hospital from 1996 to 1998, and then at Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where she became a senior II radiographer and subsequently a clinical specialist radiographer in CT/MRI.

Following this, she took up the role of superintendent radiographer at the University Hospitals of Leicester until 2006, when she moved into the higher education sector with roles at the University of Derby. “I stayed there for 19 years, so roughly for the first 10 years… teaching; the second 10 years… researching,” she says.

During her time there, Emma held various positions, including assistant subject head for radiography and head of diagnostic imaging. More recently, she was an associate professor of learning and teaching at the institution.

New responsibilities with the SoR

But it was her appointment as head of education and research at the Society and College of Radiographers that seemed to encapsulate all the skills she had harnessed throughout her career. The move, which was announced in March this year, saw Emma join the Professional and Education team at the SoR. “It’s been wonderful,” she says of the role, which took effect on 1 April. “It feels like everything from my career has come together in this beautiful, harmonious way.

“All the skills I’ve acquired over the years – my clinical background, my leadership background, my academic experience, my research – it’s all just come together. [I was] over the moon to be appointed and I am enjoying my new role.”

In her new position, Emma is heavily involved with the SoR’s education and research remit. This involves providing management governance and supporting the college’s programme approval process, individual accreditation schemes and the CPD endorsement process. As well as this, she supports the college’s research activities, which includes overseeing the college’s research grants and awards, the FoRMM scheme and coordinating responses to NICE consultations, among other responsibilities.

Elsewhere, Emma is working on renewing the Patient, Public and Practitioner Partnership guidance – one of the three main responsibilities she has outlined as priorities for her. “First, to lead a review of the college’s programme approval process to ensure it meets the needs of our stakeholders – our academic partners, radiography learners and assessors – by harnessing technological solutions to streamline and enhance the process,” she explains.

“Second, to build on work already done by my predecessor, Dr Rachel Harris, to raise the profile of research in radiography, and continue to champion high-quality, impactful radiographer-led research.

“Third, to lead the refresh of the Patient, Public and Practitioner Partnership guidance, to support the profession to deliver the highest quality person-centred imaging and radiotherapy services.”

It feels like everything from my career has come together in this beautiful, harmonious way

Why work for the SoR?

It’s clear Emma enjoys working hard – her bustling career history proves this. In some ways, it’s no surprise that a demanding role with the SCoR would be right up her street. It’s her longstanding personal history with the SoR, however, that made the head of education role feel like a “natural next step” in her career. Emma has been an SoR member since she was a student radiographer. In the years since she has been involved with the SoR in a number of ways, including as a learning rep, a member of the Imaging and Therapy Practice Editorial Board, a CoRIPS research grant awardee and a FoRMM scheme member – not to mention president of UKIO 2024 and 2025. “My presidency of UKIO required a very close working relationship with the SoR, as well as IPEM and the BIR, which meant that, when this role was advertised in autumn 2024, it felt like a natural next step in my career,” she continues.

“I am delighted to be working for the SoR and to be able to give something back to the profession that has given me so many fantastic opportunities.”

But the radiography profession is facing a number of challenges. Healthcare staff shortages are constantly in discussion, and long NHS waiting lists dominate the headlines. Emma suggests SoR members exhibit kindness and compassion to their colleagues as the profession handles these difficulties. “Workload pressures and burnout continue to be the biggest issues facing the radiography profession because of staff shortages and vacancy freezes within the NHS,” Emma explains.

“As a community, we need to work together to try to find ways to manage some very challenging situations and support each other through difficult times. I encourage our members to think about the little acts of kindness that they may be able to offer to their colleagues to help them through difficult moments.”

Translating sustainability to attendees

Synergy spoke to Emma on day one of UKIO. Though much of the conference lay ahead, Emma was enthusiastic about this year’s theme and how it had been interwoven into the programme.

The theme – ‘Community & Consciousness: One Health’ – was designed to bring focus to sustainable practices in radiography. And it worked; many of the sessions were centred around different aspects of sustainability in healthcare, including a QSI Quality Mark session that Charlotte Beardmore, the SoR’s executive director for professional policy, participated in. During the session, Charlotte highlighted the key features of QSI, such as the “really key” sustainability focus and the opportunities for continuous improvement.

Importantly, the ‘One Health’ theme was apparent from the very beginning of UKIO 2025. During her president’s welcome at the start of day one, Emma explained that the theme purposefully built on the theme from UKIO 2024, which was ‘Vision and Values: Putting People First’. “When I found out I’d been selected as president, it was always my plan that, in the first year, I’d focus really strongly on the patient voice, and in the second year I’d focus on sustainability because they’re my two passions,” she tells Synergy. “It was always the plan to have one and then the other.”

UKIO 2025’s first plenary session – which opened the conference on 2 June – focused strongly on sustainability. It was headed by Mike Berners-Lee, professor in practice at the Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, who spoke about oncology and imaging in the anthropocene.

The choice to centre sustainability at UKIO 2025 also stemmed from a personal value of Emma’s. “Sustainability comes from my own interest. I’ve been vegetarian since I was a teenager; I became vegan a couple of years ago. It’s all about feeling like I’m doing as much as I can to minimise my impact on the planet and trying to share some of those thoughts with delegates.”

There are things we can all do day to day that make a massive difference

Plenary standouts

Elsewhere, Emma highlights the plenary speakers as conference standouts. She chaired three in total, as well as two proffered paper sessions. “We work really hard to tie the plenary speakers directly into the theme of the event for each year,” she explains.

UKIO is the combination of two conferences – the UK Radiological Congress and the UK Radiation Oncology Conference – and has been running as UKIO since 2019. With the latest iteration now in the rearview mirror, what does Emma want delegates to take away from the conference? Two things specifically: inspiration and a renewed interest in sustainability. “The first thing I want delegates to take away is obviously… feeling invigorated, to feel like they have had some time to stop from the normal day-to-day routine to consider their wellbeing, to do some education and CPD,” she says.

“And then hopefully to think about some of the key messages… Sustainability – what can they change within their practice? Because there are things we can all do day to day that make a massive difference.”

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