Periodic Reporting for period 3 - ENENplus (Attract, Retain and Develop New Nuclear Talents Beyond Academic Curricula)
Reporting period: 2020-10-01 to 2021-09-30
The primary motivation of the ENEN+ project is to substantially contribute to the revival of the interest of young generations in careers in the nuclear sector.
This was achieved by pursuing the following main objectives:
• Attract new talents to careers in nuclear.
• Develop the attracted talents beyond academic curricula.
• Increase the retention of attracted talents in nuclear careers.
• Involve the nuclear stakeholders within the EU and beyond.
• Sustain the revived interest in nuclear careers.
The ENEN+ consortium focuses on the learners and careers in the following nuclear disciplines:
• Nuclear reactor engineering and safety,
• Waste management and geological disposal,
• Radiation protection and
• Medical applications.
The ENENplus project managed to achieve all assumed targets and also managed to integrate nuclear chemistry, decommissioning and fusion engineering. The outcome of enlarging the addressed community is the ENEN2plus project, a follow-up that allowed us to increase the relevance of the nuclear field in many areas. A further objective now will be the support of excellence in the existing education and training actions and to develop new ones that should accommodate the new trends in nuclear reactors (and not only) that appeared in recent years. These new-generation reactors are more suitable for quick implementation and all require a qualified workforce.
This was achieved by pursuing the following main objectives:
• Attract new talents to careers in nuclear.
• Develop the attracted talents beyond academic curricula.
• Increase the retention of attracted talents in nuclear careers.
• Involve the nuclear stakeholders within the EU and beyond.
• Sustain the revived interest in nuclear careers.
The ENEN+ consortium focuses on the learners and careers in the following nuclear disciplines:
• Nuclear reactor engineering and safety,
• Waste management and geological disposal,
• Radiation protection and
• Medical applications.
The ENENplus project managed to achieve all assumed targets and also managed to integrate nuclear chemistry, decommissioning and fusion engineering. The outcome of enlarging the addressed community is the ENEN2plus project, a follow-up that allowed us to increase the relevance of the nuclear field in many areas. A further objective now will be the support of excellence in the existing education and training actions and to develop new ones that should accommodate the new trends in nuclear reactors (and not only) that appeared in recent years. These new-generation reactors are more suitable for quick implementation and all require a qualified workforce.
Informative and attractive e-materials about the peaceful use of nuclear energy and nuclear professions for secondary school pupils were produced and distributed. These materials were produced in 11 languages.
A set of EU-wide nuclear competitions were organized. The 1st EU-wide nuclear competition for secondary school pupils in 2019 was face-to-face, BME, Hungary was the host and the 2nd one was in 2021 which, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, had to be organized online. The nominated groups were invited to take part. 25 (2019) and 33 (2021) applications were submitted to the nuclear competition, and the members of the jury decided that 15 (2019) and 18 (2021) groups would be invited.
A series of nuclear Science camps were developed. The first session was in Budapest and it was followed by 25 pupils. The second session was implemented online. This session was followed by 33 students. The finalists of the nuclear competitions could participate in the science camp, which meant that we had 15 groups in 2019 and 18 groups in 2021, in total 66 pupils and 33 teachers could take part.
Web-based services for BSc students were created in order to promote and support the attractiveness of nuclear disciplines: plus.enen.eu/videos_and_presentations/ that hosts the audiovisual material generated as part of the activities performed by the BSc students. The web page provided relevant information about news, courses, competitions, events, etc. for secondary school pupils, and BSc students. The webpage contains also instructional materials for BSc students that they could use on a daily basis.
For attractiveness, a set of undergraduate summer schools were organized. The first one was face-to-face and the second was online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first case, teachers could communicate with students and participants; monitor their reactions; facilitate their learning; try to constantly explore the shortcomings; answer questions and help them to solve the different tasks in person. In the second case, we provided online, collaborative learning in a synchronous way. In 2019 we received more than 70 applications. For the second, we received more than 50 applications, which was a very large number during this time.
The career events organized were well beyond what was initially planned. A first session was organized in Budapest where students had the opportunity to visit a number of institutions working in various nuclear sectors. During these visits, the students were able to learn about the core business of these institutions, discuss with professionals the particularities of their jobs and in some cases manipulate the instruments used in the daily practice of practitioners. After the COVID pandemic started, we implemented hybrid events which have taken several forms, such as discussions with professionals and industrialists, discussions with young professionals at the start of their careers, organization of dedicated conferences, etc.
To promote attractiveness among students and to support students in choosing a career path, a mentorship program was created. The programme involved 22 Universities, Members of ENEN. The contacts with these institutions are held both by e-mail and via the Facebook page set up for the purpose. Also, in the same idea, a template for the Personal Career Plan (nuclearization) was developed and provided.
In order to promote a full package of education and training, a database on research infrastructures and their available resources was created.
We have defined new terms of reference for the ENEN Doctoral school on nuclear innovation, an upgraded long tradition event within ENEN.
We have proposed common accreditation procedures for vocational training in nuclear themes and established a dedicated committee in this regard, a committee that was integrated into the existing list of ENEN committees.
We have proposed an EU-wide Education Training and Knowledge Management strategy based on our accumulated experience of more than 18 years.
With respect to mobility fund implementation, this was an ambitious plan to support the excellence in nuclear education and training with a 1 Mil EUR program for the whole nuclear community. The Mobility Fund reached 95% implementation with respect to its total budget, supporting mobility actions and awards for more than 600 beneficiaries (609 in total). We consider that this was a real success since mobilities were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the COVID-19 had an important influence on the project most of the activities could move forward even though some of them had to be postponed/delayed.
A set of EU-wide nuclear competitions were organized. The 1st EU-wide nuclear competition for secondary school pupils in 2019 was face-to-face, BME, Hungary was the host and the 2nd one was in 2021 which, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, had to be organized online. The nominated groups were invited to take part. 25 (2019) and 33 (2021) applications were submitted to the nuclear competition, and the members of the jury decided that 15 (2019) and 18 (2021) groups would be invited.
A series of nuclear Science camps were developed. The first session was in Budapest and it was followed by 25 pupils. The second session was implemented online. This session was followed by 33 students. The finalists of the nuclear competitions could participate in the science camp, which meant that we had 15 groups in 2019 and 18 groups in 2021, in total 66 pupils and 33 teachers could take part.
Web-based services for BSc students were created in order to promote and support the attractiveness of nuclear disciplines: plus.enen.eu/videos_and_presentations/ that hosts the audiovisual material generated as part of the activities performed by the BSc students. The web page provided relevant information about news, courses, competitions, events, etc. for secondary school pupils, and BSc students. The webpage contains also instructional materials for BSc students that they could use on a daily basis.
For attractiveness, a set of undergraduate summer schools were organized. The first one was face-to-face and the second was online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first case, teachers could communicate with students and participants; monitor their reactions; facilitate their learning; try to constantly explore the shortcomings; answer questions and help them to solve the different tasks in person. In the second case, we provided online, collaborative learning in a synchronous way. In 2019 we received more than 70 applications. For the second, we received more than 50 applications, which was a very large number during this time.
The career events organized were well beyond what was initially planned. A first session was organized in Budapest where students had the opportunity to visit a number of institutions working in various nuclear sectors. During these visits, the students were able to learn about the core business of these institutions, discuss with professionals the particularities of their jobs and in some cases manipulate the instruments used in the daily practice of practitioners. After the COVID pandemic started, we implemented hybrid events which have taken several forms, such as discussions with professionals and industrialists, discussions with young professionals at the start of their careers, organization of dedicated conferences, etc.
To promote attractiveness among students and to support students in choosing a career path, a mentorship program was created. The programme involved 22 Universities, Members of ENEN. The contacts with these institutions are held both by e-mail and via the Facebook page set up for the purpose. Also, in the same idea, a template for the Personal Career Plan (nuclearization) was developed and provided.
In order to promote a full package of education and training, a database on research infrastructures and their available resources was created.
We have defined new terms of reference for the ENEN Doctoral school on nuclear innovation, an upgraded long tradition event within ENEN.
We have proposed common accreditation procedures for vocational training in nuclear themes and established a dedicated committee in this regard, a committee that was integrated into the existing list of ENEN committees.
We have proposed an EU-wide Education Training and Knowledge Management strategy based on our accumulated experience of more than 18 years.
With respect to mobility fund implementation, this was an ambitious plan to support the excellence in nuclear education and training with a 1 Mil EUR program for the whole nuclear community. The Mobility Fund reached 95% implementation with respect to its total budget, supporting mobility actions and awards for more than 600 beneficiaries (609 in total). We consider that this was a real success since mobilities were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the COVID-19 had an important influence on the project most of the activities could move forward even though some of them had to be postponed/delayed.
The project reached its primary targets :"Attract new talents to careers in nuclear; Increase the retention of attracted talents in nuclear careers; Involve the nuclear stakeholders within EU and beyond; provide state of the art Education and Training actions and support to attend these actions". As a result of the actions incurred during project implementation, the nuclear community became more united, activities in the field of education and training became more relevant and the whole nuclear industry along with connexing industries benefitted from the investment in human resources. We supported communities which developed actions in:
• Nuclear reactor engineering and safety,
• Waste management and geological disposal,
• Radiation protection,
• Medical applications,
• Decommissioning
and we kept strong relations with the fusion community.
The project continued in form of a new one with more substantial support in terms of E&T actions, again having the same approach: supporting the whole nuclear community. The follow-up project resulted in having the highest number of participants in an E&T project funded by the EU under the Euratom program. The follow-up project, ENEN2plus gathered direct participants from three continents in the perspective of offering the best possible training and the best possible education for future generations trying this way to contribute to the excellence in nuclear.
• Nuclear reactor engineering and safety,
• Waste management and geological disposal,
• Radiation protection,
• Medical applications,
• Decommissioning
and we kept strong relations with the fusion community.
The project continued in form of a new one with more substantial support in terms of E&T actions, again having the same approach: supporting the whole nuclear community. The follow-up project resulted in having the highest number of participants in an E&T project funded by the EU under the Euratom program. The follow-up project, ENEN2plus gathered direct participants from three continents in the perspective of offering the best possible training and the best possible education for future generations trying this way to contribute to the excellence in nuclear.