Mr Aldo Malavasi, Deputy Director General of the IAEA Department of Nuclear Applications, recently met with the United Nations – Nuclear Young Generation (UN-NYG) Community as part of the “Talk to the DDG” series. During the talk, Mr Malavasi recounted his career and provided advice to young professionals across the UN. Based at the Vienna International Centre (VIC), UN-NYG is an internal organization of young professionals aiming to facilitate knowledge sharing, networking and professional integration of its members within the framework of UN related activities in the nuclear field and build up related expertise.
Mr Malavasi, who was appointed DDG-NA in 2014, holds the title of Professor of Genetics and Evolution from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he finished his Masters and Doctoral degrees. During his successful career, Mr Malavasi worked as the Regional Coordinator of the Carambola Fruit Fly Programme for the Interamerican Institute for Cooperation (IICC) on Agriculture, Organisation of American States in Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana. He also held the position of Director President of the Medfly Mosquito Facility Brazil in Juazeiro prior to his appointment as IAEA DDG and served as Secretary General of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science.
Aside from sharing his passion for hard rock and geography with the UN-NYG community, Mr Malavasi gave three pieces of valuable advice to the young professionals present at the event: first, the DDG underlined the importance of making the right decision in life by figuring out what it is that interests you most and pursuing that topic in your career. Second, Mr Malavasi recommended that the UN-NYG community “leave their comfort zones” and challenge themselves daily, both at a personal and professional level. Above all, the DDG emphasized the importance of embracing (bio)diversity and highlighted the importance of respecting different religions, values and cultures.
Mr Malavasi did not miss the opportunity to convey to young professionals the benefits of nuclear applications and illustrate how they have helped increase the standard of living across the world. The DDG explained how people are (often unknowingly) using products treated by radiation in their daily lives, for example; the use of cooking spices (cinnamon and pepper), the ability to drive cars (cables treated with radiation have a significantly higher heat tolerance than those not so treated) or visiting the doctor (quick, safe and more accurate medical diagnoses through nuclear medicine and radiology). The IAEA is making nuclear technology available to all Member States in an effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals; nuclear science and technology is directly contributing to nine out of the 17 goals (SDGs: 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 13, 14, 15 and 17).
The UN-NYG Community wishes to thank DDG Mr Aldo Malavasi for his time and engaging talk. In the future, more “Talk to the DDG” events are scheduled to take place – and those interested can register as a UN-NYG member (free of charge) at www.unnyg.org to stay in the loop.
