The IAEA will mark its 40th online seminar in radiation protection and safety next week. So far, more than 11 000 people from 132 countries have participated in online seminars – or webinars – and the number of participants continues to grow.
The 40th webinar, on 30 July 2019, will discuss protection of workers from radon. Participants will learn about radon monitoring – its challenges, best practices and lessons learned, and about the recommendations in the IAEA International Basic Safety Standards GSR Part 3.
The aim of the webinars is to expand knowledge of professionals through one-hour, live, free online seminars with experts. Online delivery of the seminars allows engagement of a large number of people from around the world and present them with topics on how to increase radiation safety in line with IAEA safety standards.
Participants have included employees in national and local governments, health care and industry-related professions. Participants from 36 professional backgrounds in radiation safety, as well as more than 400 students have already participated in the online seminars.
“This is a unique opportunity to ask questions to the experts but also to exchange our views in real time with other participants,” said Eva Zemanova, Radiation Protection Inspector from the State Office for Nuclear Safety in the Czech Republic. “Together with my colleagues, we watch the online seminars on specific topics such as interventional radiology, learn and discuss the new developments.”
The IAEA organizes webinars in three different areas – radiation protection of patients, workers and the public targeting radon. The very first webinar was on radiation protection during interventional procedures held in 2016.
“Webinars represent a great training opportunity for any professional unable to attend our face-to-face workshops,” said Lenka Dojcanova, IAEA Associate Web and Outreach Coordinator responsible for running the webinar programme. “Due to the increasing interest of participants, we are constantly adding new topics of webinars.”
During and after webinars, participants have the opportunity to propose topics of interest for future sessions. So far, the IAEA has received more than 150 such proposals in all three areas of online seminars.
Webinars are usually held in English. A few were organized in other languages, such as Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. “Organizing webinars in various languages has proved to be a useful way of reaching more people in certain regions and engaging them in sharing knowledge and experience in radiation protection and safety,” said Dojcanova.
Some of the webinars are organized in cooperation with other international organizations and professional associations.
Interested participants can register online and join the webinar. Registered participants receive an email with a hyperlink that is activated just before the webinar. Participation is free and possible from computers and mobile devices. Recordings are available online and can be viewed any time.
