Education and Training Working Group
The Education and Training Working Group (ETWG) was initially established as a GIF task force in November 2015 and elevated to a GIF working group in 2019.
The main goal of the ETWG is to provide a platform enhancing open education and training in all topics related to Advanced Nuclear Reactor and Fuel Cycle technologies and associated GIF efforts. The ETWG also aims at facilitating communication and networking of individuals and organisations supporting GIF activities in sharing and preserving Generation IV related knowledge.
The flagship product of the ETWG since 2016 is the GIF ETWG monthly webinars series, at the end of 2023 more than 80 webinars were streamed and are accessible on the GIF public website. Since 2021 the ETWG has also organised the “Pitch your generation IV research” competition that is an opportunity for PhD students, post-doctoral fellows as well as junior engineers to showcase their research to the GIF community.
Topics Covered by the ETWG
The ETWG focus is to maintain, share and present the know-how and expertise of the GIF community in the field of Advanced Nuclear Reactors and associated Fuel Cycle technologies.
This has been done by the ETWG by serving as a platform to provide and enhance open education and training in these fields while also promoting GIF efforts in supporting the development of Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems.
The ETWG has served these goals by:
- Developing and promoting a program in nuclear education and training mainly through the GIF ETWG Webinar series; this activity also serves as a strong communication tool to showcase GIF activities and expertise as it provides a platform for GIF members to discuss their topics of focus,
- Providing a mechanism for sharing and promoting collaboration between countries in education, training, and knowledge management through the regular virtual meetings of the ETWG members
- Identifying and promoting best practices in education and training, and, in knowledge management and preservation,
- Advertising educational and training events by ETWG members and partners (e.g., ENEN, Summer schools such as MeV, Frederic Joliot and Otto Hahn Summer School - FJOHSS , …)
- Developing “educational networks or bridges” between scientific societies (e.g., ANS, ENS, SFEN…), universities, industry and research institutes.
- Fostering a community and a network of experts, professionals, researchers, and students interested in Gen IV related topics, including through a social media presence
Motivations for establishing the GIF ETWG
Only a handful of the nuclear reactors operating or under construction today can be considered as meeting the generation IV requirements or being actual precursors to generation IV reactors. Yet these concepts have been under development since the early days of nuclear energy and a significant and valuable operating experience, expertise and knowledge base exists and continues to grow, including through GIF led initiatives. Interest in and technological readiness of Generation IV systems is currently increasing quickly. Even though there is an important amount of knowledge on Generation IV systems worldwide, openly available training resources on these topics remain in very limited amount and are scattered. In addition, to not only respond to a common strategic challenge encountered in many nuclear disciplines of an aging workforce, it is imperative to preserve, maintain and further develop a well-educated advanced reactor systems workforce to meet the projected growth in this field. In parallel, as several of the new reactors being developed belong to the six Generation IV technologies (see the OECD NEA SMR Dashboard and the IAEA Advanced Reactor Information System), companies (including many start-up companies) are in dire need of prior experience with these technologies.
In this context the ETWG was established to respond to the challenge of maintaining and developing a well-educated advanced reactor systems workforce and to meet the projected growth in this field by sharing, preserving, and managing knowledge related Generation IV nuclear systems and associated technologies. Through its webinars series, that is accessible to all at no cost, ETWG reaches out students, researchers, professionals, and policy makers interested in Gen IV reactors and associated technologies. The ETWG uses its various platforms to broaden the reach of GIF and attract new talents within the Gen IV community.
History, Membership and Partners of the GIF ETWG
- The ETWG was established as the GIF Education and Training Task Force in November 2015
- Elevated to a GIF Working Group (ETWG) in November 2019
- Member countries: all GIF member countries are represented in the ETWG
- Cooperation within GIF: the ETWG calls upon experts from the various GIF System Steering Committees (SSCs), Working Groups and Task Forces, notably for them to share their knowledge and expertise in ETWG organised Webinars
- Partner organisations:
- ENEN: European Network for Education in Nuclear
- IAEA: International Atomic Energy Agency
- JRC: European Commission Joint Research Center
- ETWG leadership and technical secretariat:
Dr
Patricia PAVIET
Dr
Konstantin MIKITYUK
Mr
Alexiei OZERETZKOVSKY
Key GIF ETWG Results and Deliverables
GIF Monthly webinar series:
The main achievement of the ETWG is the series of 80+ public webinars that were held since September 2016. Those are streamed live monthly. The recordings and slide decks are accessible on the GIF public website as well and on the GIF ETWG YouTube channel. Those cover a very broad range of technical and policy related topics. As of the end of 2023 they have been viewed by more than 15000 people (approximately half of the views during the live streams and the other half views being of the archives on the public GIF website). In total, the GIF webinars have reached Generation IV enthusiasts, scientists, and engineers in more than 80 countries.
You can access the GIF ETWG Webinars here.
Pitch your Generation IV research competition:
The GIF ETWG holds an online competition inviting PhD students, post-doctoral fellows, as well as junior professionals, to present their research related to Generation IV Advanced Nuclear Energy System in a short “pitch” video. After a preselection, the videos of the participants to the competition are posted on the ETWG channels.
Two winners are selected by a GIF Jury and one by “popular” vote on GIF social media channels. The winners are then invited to present a ETWG Webinar as well as to attend GIF events as guests and observers.
Two editions (2021 and 2023) of the competition were held so far and the 2025 edition is being prepared.
Link to pitch you research competition archives.
Knowledge Management and Knowledge Preservation:
The ETWG is conscious of the challenges posed by advanced nuclear programs being started and sometimes abandoned or put on hold, previous generations of nuclear experts retiring, and the emergence of new ways and tools for learning and sharing knowledge. For this reason, the ETWG initiated an overview of the national practices and experiences within its member countries related to managing and preserving knowledge related to Generation IV Advanced Nuclear Systems. The goal of this initiative is to (1) map the past and existing efforts in order to identify best practices and synergies within GIF members and, (2) see how new IT tools and digital practices could be employed to implement those best practices (e.g. e-learning, natural language processing, and other artificial intelligence tools) at a broader scale. The goal is to ensure that valuable knowledge, experience and raw data can be preserved and transferred to future generations of nuclear scientists and engineers in order to foster and support the deployment of Generation IV Nuclear Systems. The first deliverable for this project will take the form of a report.
ETWG Webinar on Knowledge Manegment and Knowledge Preservation
// link to Prof. Nawal Prinja webinar on AI (24/02/2022)
Key GIF ETWG Meetings and Events
The GIF ETWG members meet virtually every month to discuss progress of ongoing joint projects, gather feedback on previous webinars and decide future directions of work as well as to update the members on ongoing projects in the member countries.
A free public webinar is held on a monthly basis and the pitch your Gen IV Research competition is held on a bi-yearly basis.
Discussions are ongoing to organise training sessions and boot camps under the GIF flag in the future.
References relevant to ETWG activities
Patricia Paviet: “Gen IV International Forum Education and Training Webinars: Education Tools for the Next Generation Workforce”, Paper # 81027, Proceedings for the International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-26) conference, London, UK, July 22-26, 2018
Patricia Paviet: “The GIF Webinar Initiative: Past, Present and Future“, Paper #28874,Conference Proceedings GLOBAL TOP FUEL 2019, Seattle, WA, 22-27 September 2019
Patricia Paviet: “Gen IV Education and Training Working Group Webinars’ Initiative”, Paper #32874, presented as oral presentation at the Virtual ANS Meeting (16-19 November 2020)
Patricia Paviet, "Generation IV International Forum -Education and Training Working Group’s Activities, Paper#14, NEST-et forum, 15-17 NOV 2021
Patricia Paviet, Sun Jun: “Gen IV International Forum Webinars’ Initiative” Paper #437, Fast Reactor FR22 Conference, 19-22 May 2022, Vienna, Austria, PNNL- SA- 156877
Patricia Paviet: ”Pitch your Gen IV Research Competition – An Initiative from the Generation IV International Forum”, Paper #39512, ANS Winter Meeting, 13-17 November 2022, Phoenix, AZ, USA, PNNL-SA-174164
Patricia Paviet: “Informing and Engaging the Future Workforce on Generation IV International Forum Reactor Systems” Paper #40428, CONTE 2023 Conference, Amelia Island, FL, USA 5-9 Feb 2023, PNNL-SA-180149