 So my job is Director of Human Health at the IAEA and basically it entails facilitating the work of four different sections, promoting the knowledge but also helping member states develop better methods and achieve better quality and also to help with training and education and develop guidelines and things like that. I always wanted to be a physician and for a very long time, I was 14, I wanted to be a radiation oncologist specifically. And so yes, I always knew what I wanted. I love everything about my job and the most important thing is that it's a chance to help so many people and impact societies in general. So if you think of one radiation oncology center, how many people can be treated to that one center that we could help set up. It's amazing. In this situation, you have the ability to help states around the world and people around the world and I think that's exciting. Many of the people here actually started out in academics and in the clinic. So you need some academic experience where you can be very familiar with research and writing papers and assessing information and developing guidelines. So the medical background could be like in nuclear sciences. So it could be, for example, a radiation oncologist. It could be a medical physicist. It could be a diagnostic radiologist. Things like that in general. As an institution, the good that we're doing is the thing that inspires one to work here and the people that are here just are amazing. Whatever you choose, you have to love what you do and you have to believe in it because I think the thing that makes you do the best that you can is that you believe in what you're doing and you enjoy it. My name is Christina George. I'm a nuclear security officer in the Division of Nuclear Security here at the IAEA. My work involves securing radioactive sources. So radioactive sources that are used not necessarily in nuclear power plants but in hospitals to treat cancer, in agriculture, for example, to sterilize crops or in industry such as the oil industry. What I do is work with member states to put in place the nuclear security framework that's needed to make sure that this radioactive material is protected. We work with states to develop standards and guidance. The other part is the delivery and development of training. So we go into countries to deliver training on how to secure their radioactive material. The last sort of aspect of my job has to do with technical assistance. So there's a very practical component where we will work with countries on what are the security systems needed within facilities to protect that material. We work with all countries. Every country is concerned about nuclear security and specifically to my role, radioactive sources are used everywhere. There are no limits to where I can go and it's been extremely eye-opening to work with a lot of these countries where I would never get to in my normal life. My undergraduate studies are in electrical engineering. I also did my master's in electrical engineering. Right out of university, I actually worked in procurement. I always had sort of a view that one part of my career would be at the international level. Then when I started working for the regulator in my home country, the IAEA came into view. From my own experience, a technical background definitely helps delay the foundation of your work. So I would encourage girls, first of all, to pursue science and engineering if that's what they're passionate about. The other aspect is with a science and engineering background, it's important to remain open to different possibilities. It's always interesting to know that certain skills are transferable. So my advice is not to be limited in your thinking in terms of what you can do with your technical background. You don't necessarily have to be sitting in front of a computer or working in a lab. You can be, for example, like me, working in nuclear security and helping states to develop their nuclear security frameworks. I'm a Press and Public Information Officer for the IAEA and that means that I help tell the world about the fascinating work that the IAEA does. And I do this through working with journalists, through working with our website, helping making sure that we have good material there and also answering questions from the general public directly sometimes and briefing students and others who come and visit. My days are quite different. I spend a lot of time at my desk on the computer writing emails, documents, notes and things like that for various interviews or interactions. I also, of course, spend a lot of time talking to journalists about all sorts of things we do and responding to their questions but also trying to make them interested in the parts that I find so fascinating about the IAEA. My dream when I was in primary school was to be a journalist and I became one. And then when I was studying, I refined this and decided that I wanted to be a foreign correspondent. And I became a foreign correspondent. I was working for the Associated Press as a journalist for eight years. I was based in six different cities, I think six on three continents. And after eight years I started to feel the need for a change to use the skills and experience I had gained in a different way. And then I switched and became a Press and Public Information Officer. I really enjoy being part of an organization that I think does good and I really like being able to share what we do. Our colleagues are really passionate professionals who really care deeply about what they do and they're such experts, they really know the topics and they're driven by this will to really make a difference and that's very rewarding to work with people like that. The actual requirements for my job would be a basic university degree with experience, with a bit more experience or an advanced university degree with a bit less experience. And of course experience has to be related. It has to be in communications or in journalism or something similar. I would advise young people who are interested in working for the IAEA to give it a shot. The IAEA is a fun place to work. You get to work with passionate, knowledgeable colleagues and you work together for a good cause. I'm working in the Nuclear Science and Application in the Plant Breeding and Genetics Laboratory. Our main activities are divided in adaptive research and development, training for member states and service. And me personally, I'm in charge of irradiation service for member states. We have to conduct pre-radiation treatment via irradiating material and then, depending what kind of request has been issued for the mutagenesis services, we will then either determine radio sensitivity test or we will irradiate material with the requested dose to the member states and ship the material as fast as possible to the member states that they continue working on the material. I'm somebody who likes to read a lot. And in a subject in popular science that made me really curious, it was one book called What is Life from Erwin Schrödinger. And as a young girl or teenager at that time, I don't know, maybe this book was inspiring or just made me more curious. And I look forward, where can I find the answers on the questions and the area in medicine, agriculture, everything touching life sciences, natural sciences to look for this question. And maybe this was my will that somehow I didn't bring me here. We are here working with many people from all around the world and being in touch with the people from member states and the member states are from all continents, from all countries. It's amazing. I am the working mother. I see in an agency a positive trend for looking to achieve gender equality. So with a different age, with a different background, with a different sex, with a different creed, we can, I think, look forward to create a symphony. Symphony can only work with a lot of diversity. So the diversity is basic, so together we can do it. In the head of the IAEA incident and emergency center, my job entails both managerial and professional aspects. The work of the IEC covers preparedness for and response to nuclear and red logical emergencies, irrespective of their course. IEC is a 24-7 focal point for notification and request for assistance. And we also help member states in assisting, strengthening their own preparedness for response to emergencies. And it will be implemented through various meetings on administrative, technical, organizational aspects with the staff of the IEC and throughout the agency. But when the IEC is responding to an emergency, I will be implementing my role as the head of the incident and emergency center in accordance with the agency's response plan. And it will include, among other tasks, overseeing management of operational activities, clearance, approval of the assistance action plan and so on. My professional experience is related to the accident at Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986. My home country, Belarus, was heavily affected after the Chernobyl accident. I was very closely involved, being a young scientist, and then growing throughout the process of years of Chernobyl consequences in Belarus. I was heavily involved in the development of protective actions criteria for protecting the public after the accident, like criteria for relocation, restriction of food consumption, justification of these criteria and explanation to the public of what it means. I was also involved in assessing radiation-induced health effects. In implementing this job, one would need to have high qualification in various areas, like radiation protection, radiobiology, biophysics, dose reconstruction and so on. Because the specificity of this area, area of emergency preparedness and response is that the area is cross-cutting through various disciplines. My message to young professional women would be learn the areas you like and you are interested in, but also go and learn those subjects which are related to this main area. And also do not hesitate to challenge yourself with new things and with increasingly difficult tasks. It will give an opportunity to experience and to grow in problem solving, which will be helpful throughout the professional life. If someone would like to pursue a career here, go for it. And you will get a professional satisfaction and professional development.