Our Christmas quiz was more fiendishly difficult than we thought! So here are the answers:
1 What is the age of our youngest professional member? Answer - 24
This is pretty young to gain professional recognition but it's not impossible for those with a career development plan and an eagerness to get a broad understanding of the nuclear industry and their role in it. Could you be in our elite of young nuclear professionals? Typically a successful candidate will be able to explain the importance of nuclear safety, security and technology as it relates to their role. It's not just from a technical point of view as we all have an impact on the overall achievement of these critical factors in whatever role we do. Need more guidance on how this relates to a non-technical job? See here.
2 How many Members and Fellows were elected in 2018? Answer - 26
This includes those who registered through the NI for Chartered, Incorporated/Registered or Technician status with two of our licensing bodies - the Engineering Council and the Science Council. However these were in the minority so whether you are in a non-technical role or already registered with another licensed body, achieving MNucI or FNucI is still important to demonstrate your nuclear professionalism. They came from across the industry, across the age range and 25% were female. We hope 2020 will see even more will choose to join this select group of elite nuclear professionals - the invitation is open to all.
3 What proportion of our new members in 2019 were female? Answer - 30%
This bodes well for the future of the nuclear industry's gender diversity as it currently sits at around 25% for the whole membership. Women are still much under-represented in the ranks of our professional members but we firmly believe that women in the nuclear industry will be leading the profession in the 20s. This starts with our new President, Gwen Parry-Jones, but have a look at some of our other case studies below:
Fiona Rayment - NI Trustee and newly elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Catherine Hedger - CSci and assessor on the NI's Membership Committee
Lindsay Sedwards - CSci in 2018 and WiN UK committee
Eilidh Hutchison – CEng MNucl. Nuclear Safety Engineer at Frazer-Nash Consultancy
Preeya Lakhani - MNucl
4 What is our newest membership grade? Answer - Educational Affiliate
The purpose of this grade is to welcome students and university/college leaders into membership of the NI. The membership is paid by the university/college and it gives free membership to all relevant students/apprentices studying there. Two lecturers can also have free membership, useful for those not yet Members or Fellows of the NI. The benefits to students are obvious: access to extra-curricular content, networking opportunities with senior industry figures and potential employers and an early introduction to life in the industry through YGN participation and learning new soft skills through volunteering. However we hope this will be valuable to our branches and communities as well - any university/college that offers its premises for at least one free networking session a year will get their membership for half the usual price.
5 How many volunteers did we have in 2018?
We calculated around 475 volunteers - a staggering 18% of the membership - committed time to the Institute. There are so many ways to make a contribution to furthering the NI's aims, particularly around its charitable and educational objects, that even a small contribution has a potentially big impact. Some of these ways include:
Serving the Institute - from participating on the Board of Trustees to a local branch committee, to external representation on bodies that we collaborate with, there are always more people needed.
- Mentoring - offering your time and expertise to someone in the early stages of their career is invaluable in an industry that needs to pass its knowledge and experience to the upcoming generation of nuclear professionals.
- Supporting colleagues' CPD - whether this is in assessing someone for professional membership, mentoring them towards it, assessing their CPD record or being the 'NI champion' in your organisation, these all help with the essential development of future subject matter experts.
- Providing expert input - whether you participate in a Special Interest Group, write an article or technical paper for Nuclear Future, organising or speaking at a NI event, the Institute's main strength is the expert knowledge of its members over others that have an opinion on this industry.
- Encouraging the next generation - one of the main pillars of the Institute is the amount of time its members give to taking part in events for school and college students, through science and engineering fairs to local showcases and school initiatives.
- Supporting society - as well as maintaining a safe, secure and reliable form of energy for society, the NI's branches and communities regularly raise thousands of pounds for their local charities.
We're very fortunate in having this many people that are inspired and committed enough to give something back to their membership body and their industry in order to see it succeed. If you haven't yet contributed but feel encouraged to do so now, why not complete our survey to get involved with some of the ways you can help. Even if you only have a couple of hours a month, it could make a big difference to what we are able to achieve as a team for the nuclear industry.
Many thanks
Sarah Beacock, CEO