The Philippines is set to become the 50th IYNC Member, as unanimously concluded during the 2nd Philippine Nuclear Youth Summit (PNYS) on 7 December 2016. Aimed to be a forum for the young generation in the Philippines to share information and knowledge as well as a platform for youth empowerment, PNYS was one of the major highlights of the 44th Atomic Energy Week (AEW) celebration.
The summit successfully brought together 166 participants comprising of high school and college students as well as young professionals in the nuclear field, who are eager to be the voice of nuclear science and technology in the Philippines in the wake of the nation’s recent development in nuclear energy.
To this end, recognising the positive and active role of the young generation in the Philippines’ nuclear energy programme, the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute – Department of Science and Technology (PNRI-DOST) extended an invitation to IYNC to inspire the young demographic to set up the Philippine YGN following IYNC’s contribution in assisting Malaysia last year.
The summit was divided into three tracks; the first being presentations from PNRI-DOST and IYNC. Dimas Irawan, National Representative of Indonesia cum Advisor of the National Nuclear Young Community (Komunitas Muda Nuklir Nasional, KOMMUN), delivered a presentation on Indonesian and Asia Pacific YGN, whilst Myra Liyana, National Representative of Malaysia cum President of the Malaysia Young Generation in Nuclear (MyYGN), shared her experience on the setting up of the MyYGN and IYNC’s pivotal role in its establishment. The participants were also informed on IYNC including its history and future programmes especially the upcoming IYNC 2018 in Bariloche, Argentina.
The second session – titled as “Group Dynamics” – saw the participants divided into ten different groups and tasked to produce creative and fun infomercial on areas of interest in nuclear science and technology. The speakers from the earlier session including IYNC representatives were invited to serve as judges for the infomercials staged by the participants. While the judges were deliberating on the final scores, the participants were entertained by a special performance by high school girls from San Francisco High School under the Powerful Opportunities for Women Eager and Ready for Science Engineering and Technology (POWER SET) organisation. POWER SET is one of the activities adopted by the Philippines in connection with the IAEA Technical Cooperation Project on “Supporting Sustainability and Networking of National Institutions in Asia and the Pacific Region: Implementation of Outreach Activities Using the Compendium of Resources on Nuclear Science and Technology”.
For the last part of the summit, the IYNC representatives had the opportunity to visit two facilities namely, Electron Beam Irradiation Facility and the Multipurpose Gamma Irradiation Facility. Upon conclusion of PNYS, the IYNC representatives paid a courtesy visit with Dr. Carlos Primo C. David, Officer-in-Charge of PNRI-DOST, who valued IYNC’s presence and contribution at PNYS and moving forward, is keen to pursue the establishment of Philippine YGN by 2017.
PNYS is organised by PNRI-DOST in conjunction with the 44th Atomic Energy Week (AEW) from 5-9 December 2016 at the PNRI compound in Commonwealth, Diliman, Quezon City.
