 Hello, everyone. My name is Miklos Gaspar. I'm head of digital communications at the IAA. Today we are live from Vienna, our headquarters. And this is the premiere of a series of lives to discuss what it is like to work at the IAA and to answer some of the questions we receive from applicants. You too can ask us questions during this session and we'll respond to some of them at the end. Just put your questions in the comment section on your favorite platform. So in this first chat, we will discuss what it is like to work at an international organization, what impact your work can have, and what inspires my colleagues here on the panel about their jobs. So let me introduce them. First, we have Anu Skavetankur Hernandez, nuclear security officer from Cuba, who's been with the IAA since 2018. Then we have Joseph Adugyamfi, a soil fertility expert from Ghana, who has been with the IAA since 2006, helping countries from around the world in the use of isotopic techniques for improved agriculture. And last but not least, we have Christine Sim from Singapore, who heads our recruitment unit and she has been at the organization for three years. So to start with, let me ask you Anu Skavetankur, what motivated you to come and work at the IAA? Thank you, Miklos. I am a nuclear engineer. I work all my life in the nuclear field first as a regulator for almost 30 years in my country. Then a few years in an institution to promote the useful use of nuclear applications, the Pacific use, sorry, for nuclear applications. And I participate in several events at the International Atomic Energy Agency, meetings, conference, projects. I was familiar with this organization. And I consider to join in because I want to share my experience to support countries in the establishment and implementing the regulatory infrastructure for radiation safety and security of radiative material. Thank you. What about you, Joseph? What motivated you to join the agency? Yeah, thank you. I was a senior lecturer at the University of Ghana. And actually I was invited by the IAE to, as a consultant, actually to help develop a proposal based on soil and nutrient management for food security and also in agriculture. Although when I was doing my graduate studies, I use isotopes or nuclear techniques. The invitation came to me as a shock because I knew that IAE is a nuclear war dog. And any time I heard about IAE, it was more of inspecting of nuclear facilities or nuclear energy. So I have not heard of anything about IAE working on something related to food security and then also sustainable agricultural development. So that was a shock. So I just decided that, okay, I will come and see. So I came. Then when I came, it was really, wow, coming. I just got there and I saw all the flags. Initially, they were all at the Rutunda. And then I also saw a lot of people from our multicultural environment. And then I just said, yeah, I think it is a nice place actually as a scientist to continue with my career. And also join other scientists to actually develop agriculture and also help in food security. Thank you. Christine, what's your story? Thank you so much. So for me, my purpose of joining the IAEA, what attracted me to join the International Atomic Energy Agency was really a couple of organizations before joining IAEA. I was able to realize the importance of medical isotopes and the impact of medical isotopes and extension of human life. Or perhaps maybe even extending someone's life may be affected due to cancer or some other treatment. And for me, that was a personal motivation for me to join the IAEA and to make a difference really. Yeah. Thank you. I would like to ask you about what's been a particularly meaningful or inspiring moment in your career working here. Joseph, what about you? Yeah. Thank you. To me, actually, I was really inspired at the IAEA for the opportunities actually to work with a lot of member states. When I came in, I saw about a hundred member states, both from the developing and then developed countries. And what actually inspired me is to listen to them, look at, listen to some of their problems. And then we joined hands actually to try to see how best we will be able to improve agriculture and food security. I also realized the opportunity actually to work in a multicultural environment is really very, very important. And also to see how best I'm able to resolve some issues, conflict issues in a multicultural environment. And also the opportunity to see people not only in my area and not only in the area of science, but I saw people from the administration. I mean, also from finance, from IT and all this. So these were all really very, very inspired. And actually one important thing is also the opportunity because the nature of my work involves a lot of traveling. So the opportunity to travel to a lot of countries, do some training and also have some discussions with them. Not only that, but also you get an opportunity to see their culture and also very nice food or cuisine. You have the chance to enjoy some of this food. So in short, these are some of the issues that actually have inspired me to work here. Thank you. And Yuska, what about you? I was hired in 2018 as consultant to attend a regional project for Latin America and the Caribbean in relation to the strength and the national regulatory infrastructure for conservation safety and security of reactive material. The project will need to complete in one year with many activities. And for me it was a very good experience because before, in my country, I participated in several regional projects in the Latin America and the Caribbean as Cuban representative. And I'm a regional expert and have this possibility to attend this project as an international civil servant. Servant was really, I consider one of the privileges in my life. Thank you. Christine, what has been very inspiring and memorable for you? So for me, well, I'm in human resources. So for me, finding the right person for a particular position within the organization to deliver on our mandates is so important. And for me is also to be able to match the right person to the right job and help them develop their careers in the organization. Not only in IAE specifically, but also within the UN job family as well. So for me, these are really particularly meaningful for me. Thank you. So now I'd like to ask you about how is it different to work at an international organization compared to working for a national organization in your countries? Anuska, what about you? In my case, definitely, my colleague mentioned before, the multicultural environment. For me, it's good and challenging, good because you have the opportunity to receive, to know the different cultures in deep, exchanging with your colleagues. And challenging because each culture has a specific or different approach and different view of the life. But at the end, all together work to, to, to enrich the agency goals. This is, for me, the most important. Thank you. Christine. I think as, as both Anuska as well as Joseph mentioned, the multiculturalism, the facts of walking on the, you know, in a corridor at the agency premises and to be able to listen and hear the many different languages. That's definitely something that is very, very dynamic and interesting. In addition to that, you know, being part of the United Nations striving towards achieving the sustainable development goals, as well as for us at the IEA to try and achieve our gender parity targets for 2025. These are some of the, these are some of the impacts of key aspects that attracts me. Joseph. Yeah, to me, we realize that agriculture and environmental issues, they vary from country to country and also from region to region. And, and one of the important things that I realized here is that I have the opportunity to work with more than 140 member states, which most of them, especially in Africa, deals with agriculture. But the problem vary from one country to the other. So for me, the ability actually to work in the regions like my work actually takes me not only to Africa, but Latin America, Asia, Pacific and also Europe. So trying to see a common problem and then trying to talk to the scientists to have most of these things resolve at the regional level is really very, very encouraging and inspiring. The other thing is also here, as I see it, I came here and I've been able to also develop my interpersonal skills because there are opportunities to attend some of these IT courses and a whole lot of courses that have also helped me to actually enjoy the place. And then one aspect that I also like is trying to actually see that with other people from developing countries, at least our contribution has actually helped to improve food security in the world. And of course, I mean, I also enjoy the safety of Australia. I really enjoyed the city too. So that's what I can say. Thank you. Well, many thanks to you all for your insights. Now let's turn to some of the questions we received from our audience. Christine, let me read to you the first two questions, one from India and the other one from Pakistan. I'm a medical physicist and I live in India. Can I apply to the IAEA for various posts? I want to join the IAEA from Pakistan. I would need some guidance at a PhD in radiation dosimetry and they're working in a radiotherapy center. Sure. So just to respond to these questions. So we advertise all our positions on our website in which you'll be able to have a look and look specifically at each vacancy announcement, understanding a little bit in terms of what each position requires. You may need to, in there, we also do state of qualifications, whether it's a PhD or perhaps a master's degree that will give you an indication in terms of the education level. We also do indicate the experience and the type of experience that we're looking for. So we do encourage you to please check out our websites because all our positions are posted on our website on our page. And you'll be able to find the respective qualifications you need to apply for those respective positions. Thank you. Edward Uribe is asking if all our positions, for all our positions, it's required to live in Austria or is relocation always required? Sure. So we have offices all around the world. So our headquarters is in Austria and Vienna. But in addition to our Vienna office, we also do have a laboratory located in Cyberstaff. In addition to this, we also have a laboratory in Monaco as well as liaison offices in Geneva, New York. We also have two regional offices in Tokyo as well as as I mentioned in Monaco as well. So it's not necessary just base here in Austria. For our professional staff, they are internationally recruited. We will provide you with support and assistance in Visa. And of course, we also do have a percentage of our staff that are what we call general service positions. And for those, these are locally recruited from Austria. Thank you. But basically once this COVID is over, it's expected that people will relocate or be located at their offices. Yes. We don't do remote work. No, likely because most of our work is if it's in the laboratory, it's very likely you'll be needed to be based at the laboratory. So it really depends on the type of work, but most of our work, you will need to be based at the duty station. Thank you. Another viewer is asking if they need to have experience in the nuclear field to join the IAEA. So maybe I'll use myself as an example. So I have no nuclear background at all. I'm working with the IAEA in human resources. So we have six departments here at the IAEA Department of Management. We have Department of Technical Cooperation. We do also have our very technical departments, which is nuclear science and applications, nuclear safety and security. We have nuclear energy and of course our department of safeguards. For not all our positions, we will require a nuclear field. We do have quite a number of IT type positions. We do have a number of finance, budget type, program management, international cooperation type backgrounds, which we do not expect individuals to have a nuclear background because we have other departments to support us in that area. Thank you. You didn't mention the most important, which is communication. We also have. So another viewer is asking if they need to have an EU passport or Austrian passport to apply. As mentioned earlier, that is not necessary. Again, as for internationally professional positions, the IAEA will support you through the visa process and to help you obtain a legitimation card or a residency card for while you're working here at India. You can also contact the IAEA in Vienna or in the respective duty stations. Thank you. Thank you for all these answers. Thank you everybody for joining the panel and thank you all for listening to and watching us. It's not this session is over, but this was just the first of the series of lives. Every month we will come back discussing a different topic with different guests. In the meantime, please check out our vacancy notices, our job openings at IAEA.org slash employment. And subscribe to our recruitment newsletter so that you get firsthand notifications when we have new jobs opening up. Thank you and don't forget to check the comment section for further useful links. Bye-bye.