Left:
Sama Bilbao y Leon, Director General, World Nuclear Association, during a panel discussion
High-level panel discussion During the opening meeting, a high-level panel discussed how the international community can work toward breaking down barriers to better support the current and next women leaders in the nuclear sector. “Women need to be given the opportunity to actually see what is there for them in nuclear,” said Sama Bilbao Y Leon, one of the panellists and Director General of the World Nuclear Association (WNA).
“Be bold,” said Aleshia Duncan, Deputy Assistant
Secretary of the Department of Energy in the USA, another panellist. “Make an impression. Make a connection. Make a network and a tribe of people that will support you throughout your career. We’re telling the truth when we say we need you, but we need you to show up as your best self, knowing that you can do the job, knowing that you can bring your whole self, knowing that you can be who you are, and do the job.” As well as Director General Grossi, the other panellists included Francisco Rondinelli, President, Nuclear Energy Commission of Brazil (CNEN); Mitsuru Uesaka,Chairperson, Japan Atomic Energy Agency; Byungjoo Min, President, Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology; Soheir Saad Korraa, President of WiN Africa and Professor of Radiation Molecular Biology at the National Centre for Radiation Research & Technology. Career talks in breakout sessions focused on
strengthening participants’ networks and leadership skills, as well as how the nuclear community can support women throughout their careers in the field. Senior nuclear experts and leaders shared their experiences and answered questions. Industry professionals had the opportunity to become acquainted with a growing community of women nuclear experts and explore possibilities to advance their careers.
During the event’s closing session, the IAEA and WNA signed an agreement pledging to work together to help place women in more professional positions in the nuclear sector. Participants of both programmes also presented their joint statement acknowledging how crucial it is to champion and empower women in nuclear science and technology, and that the field must become more accessible to women. The joint statement was the result of an innovative synchronous collaborative online methodology allowing them to democratically write and edit together their vision of how to attract and retain more women in the nuclear field before the event. Their joint statement pledged to support, advocate, promote and practice policies that empower women, ensure gender equality, and enable women to reach their full potential in the nuclear field.
The event also showcased the achievements of the
MSCFP and LMP programmes and provided a platform to not only strengthen existing partnerships with donors, but also to establish new ones, ensuring the continued sustainability and success of both programmes for years to come.
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Programme The MSCFP programme was launched in 2020 named after physicist Marie Skłodowska-Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and still the only person to win two Nobels in two different scientific fields. The Programme aims to inspire and encourage young women to pursue a career in the nuclear field, by providing highly motivated female students with scholarships for Master’s programmes and an opportunity to pursue an internship facilitated by the IAEA.
Selected students receive a scholarship for Master’s
programmes in nuclear related studies at accredited universities. They are also provided with an opportunity to pursue an internship facilitated by the IAEA for up to 12 months. Scholarships are awarded annually to 100 plus students depending on the availability of funds. Consideration is given to field of study, and geographic and linguistic diversity. To date, 560 women from 121 countries have received
financial in-kind support to pursue degrees in the nuclear field in over 70 countries worldwide. Over 180 have already completed their master’s programme with the support of the MSCFP, and over 100 of the selected students have been confirmed for an internship facilitated by IAEA. The MSCFP welcomed its fourth and largest cohort to date at the end of 2023, This included 200 scholarship recipients from 97 member states studying in 54 countries, bringing the total number of recipients so far to 560. During the conference, Carl Hallergard, European Union
Ambassador and Permanent Representative to IAEA, announced the EU’s pledge to contribute a further €2m to the MSCFP for future cohorts. The EU is currently the largest MSCFP donor. “MSCFP made it possible for me to follow my dreams of becoming a radiological environmental scientist. After completion of my studies in the Republic of Korea, my aspiration is to use my skills to contribute towards examining the environmental situation in my home country,” said Zarina Salkenova, a 2022 Marie Curie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow from Kazakhstan. “On this International Women’s Day, let us reform our support and commit to empowering women in nuclear science and technology,” said Zainab Kamara, a MSCFP recipient from Sierra Leone who studied Nuclear Science and Applications in the UK.
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