All applications of nuclear technology are based on nuclear knowledge. Helping Member States, especially developing countries, to obtain and manage this knowledge is central to the mandate of the IAEA. The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and the IAEA have a long-standing cooperation in training young nuclear professionals on the development and implementation of nuclear knowledge management programmes (NKM) in nuclear science and technology organizations.
Organized by the two organizations since 2004, the joint Nuclear Knowledge Management School have so far trained more than 500 young professionals from 80 Member States.
This year’s one-week course, which took place last week, brought together 42 junior and mid-career professionals from 26 Member States at the ICTP in Trieste, Italy, with women participants making up 57% of all attendees, higher than ever.
Head of the IAEA’s Nuclear Knowledge Management Section, David Drury, said the NKM School is a great opportunity for participants from across the nuclear sector spectrum, such as operating organizations, regulators, non-nuclear power functions to learn about an integrated approach to nuclear knowledge management.
“The course is structured to ensure that the students get actively involved in projects and problem solving activities,” he said. “This helps them better understand how critical knowledge will move through an organization, familiarize themselves with competency mapping together with knowledge risk loss and the essential role leaders play in maintaining a strong and effective NKM programme.”
Key note addresses, case studies, group exercises and discussions guided participants to a better understanding of methodologies and practices of knowledge management systems.
“Since our country is building its first nuclear power plant and is in the process of developing associated manpower, the concept of nuclear knowledge management is new and very timely for us,” said participant Nashiyat Fyza, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
“I learned that NKM is a key element for an organization to run such megaprojects efficiently and safely,” she added. “I found the information on risk management of knowledge loss, especially the identifying factors, which I learned at this School, very important and easy to apply in practice.”
Since our country is building its first nuclear power plant and is in the process of developing associated manpower, the concept of nuclear knowledge management is new and very timely for us.
