August 29, 2023
Members of Seoul National University Nuclear Fuel Cycle & Nonproliferation Lab (SNUNFC) recently took part in the 2023 Nuvengers initiative. The Korea Nuclear International Cooperation Foundation (KONICOF)-sponsored Nuvengers Initiative was a six-week Nuclear Global R&D Mentoring Program designed to match participants with domestic and international nuclear experts to help foster next generation nuclear expertise.
KONICOF Nuvengers Initiative
The KONICOF-sponsored ‘Nuclear Global R&D Mentoring Program’ (Nuvengers) Initiative was a six-week Nuclear Global R&D Mentoring Program. This mentoring program, in which a total of 29 undergraduate and graduate students majoring in nuclear energy, participated, saw participants being matched with university and industry experts from domestic and international nuclear institutions. The program allowed students to participate in teams in the nuclear R&D field of their choice, set critical issues, and explore solutions for these issues with excellent mentors at home and abroad. It proceeded in the outgoing direction.
The Nuvengers Initiative is a small group mentoring program that makes future R&D human resources discover issues in nuclear field and explores solutions with the help of mentors. Each mentoring team consists of a Korean mentor, global mentor, and 3~5 mentees. Mentoring is conducted over at least 5 sessions within 6 weeks with 3~4 sessions led by the Korean mentor and 2~3 sessions led by the global mentor. The Korean and global mentors of each team cooperated closely for effective mentoring, with mentoring being made in any type of activities such as lecture, discussion, (virtual) technical tour, take-home assignment, etc, with a key component being mentee proactive participation. Mentoring was conducted over the recent six-week summer vacation period from July 24 to September 1, and covered a total of six fields:
Small Modular Reactors (SMR),
Nuclear Fusion,
Waste Management,
Radiation Utilization,
Nuclear Fuel Development Technology,
Nuclear Non-proliferation Technology.
The program consisted of 7 teams, and was conducted in various ways, including lectures, discussions, field trips, and task performance. The Nuvengers Initiative concluded when KONICOF held a result presentation of the 3rd Nuvengers program at the Novotel in Dragon City, Seoul, on August 29, 2023. More success was brought to SNUNFC with one of the teams consisting of SNUNFC members S. Hong and W. Lim winning "The Best awards of Nuclear global R&D mentoring program results presentation" (원자력 글로벌 R&D 멘토링 프로그램 (NUVENGERS) 결과발표회 최우수상)
Students who participated in the mentoring expressed their feelings that this mentoring program gave them an opportunity to think about their careers from various angles by addressing and exploring topics that are usually difficult to approach. In addition, they cited the fact that they participated in the program with top domestic and foreign experts as mentors and the fact that a close network was established with students from other local schools focusing on the same interests as the achievements of participating in the program.
S. Hong said: "Despite the short duration, we were able to strengthen our capabilities through small-scale research activities. In particular, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Technology Team was selected as the best activity team. We will take this as a driving force for our future research activities."
Korea Nuclear International Cooperation Foundation (KONICOF)
The Foundation operates the "Nuclear Global R&D Mentoring Program" to strengthen the global capabilities of next-generation experts who will be responsible for Korea's nuclear future, and secures the supply of next-generation nuclear safety researchers in line with the national nuclear research and development policy and future nuclear technology development strategy.
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