Virtual education, energy, climate change, preserving antiquities, training the next generation of nuclear scientists: these are just some of the many endeavours carried out in the nuclear field in and around Paris. IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, in France for discussions with President Emmanuel Macron and to open the World Nuclear Exhibition, spoke about the importance of gender equality and internationalisation at the institutions he visited, and thanked his counterparts for their close cooperation with the IAEA.
At University Paris-Saclay, he spoke about the institution’s contribution to the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme, a scholarship scheme to help young women pursue graduate studies in the nuclear field.
“Four of the fellows of the latest cohort of fellows studied in France, and three were international students at University Paris-Saclay,” he said in a lecture at the university. “We are extremely proud of these young ladies, who represent a new generation of women in nuclear, and we are thankful to France for educating people from around the world.”
“The students at this university have innovative ideas on how nuclear science can tackle climate change and other global issues, such as cancer and hunger,” Mr Grossi told students enrolled in an international nuclear energy master’s programme. “Nuclear definitively needs more minds like this.”
Last September, the IAEA and Paris-Saclay – one of the top universities in nuclear science globally – had established a strategic partnership to enhance the use of nuclear technology in the field of characterization and preservation of cultural and natural heritage.
