Emirati Women pioneering the nuclear sector in the UAE

The Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), since its inception in 2009, has been placing great importance to empower Emiratis in the nuclear regulatory sector in order to deliver the UAE’s vision in developing its peaceful nuclear energy program and ensure its sustainability. This empowerment was given the same importance among Emirati women supporting the government’s vision in gender balance especially in this unique and important industry.

Today, UAE Females constitute 44% of FANR's total workforce with 43% holding leadership positions, which is above the global ratio of 22%. Over the past 14 years, FANR has achieved significant strides in empowering women and engaging them in its regulatory activities by implementing capacity-building programmes such as scholarship and leadership programme amongst other programmes. In addition, FANR’s flagship Developee Programme, played a crucial role in equipping young and fresh graduates from engineering, physics and law degrees with technical competencies to regulate the nuclear sector. Currently, it has 35 graduates of this programme, out of which are 21 females.

FANR’s efforts to develop, support and empower Emirati women throughout the years in the nuclear and radiation sections led it to be one of the leading nuclear regulators in empowering women. Today, FANR proudly claims the introduction of the first Emirati Female Nuclear Safety Inspector; the first three female Emiratis specialized in Nuclear Law; the first Emirati female holding a PhD Degree in nuclear engineering as well as the first Emirati female to become an official international nuclear non-proliferation inspector, who has completed a 9 months program at the International Atomic Energy Agency, beside many other Emirati women who have contributed significantly towards the nuclear industry in the past decade. They are collaborating closely with their male pairs to drive the performance of FANR and achieve its mandate.

“Emirati females have been playing an indispensable role in regulating the nuclear and radiological sectors in the United Arab Emirates. Following UAE Government efforts, FANR has been supporting and empowering Emiratis, particularly women, to build their capabilities to ensure the safety and the security of all activities using nuclear or radioactive sources. We are proud to see Emirati Females contributing significantly in such a knowledge-intensive sector,” said Christer Viktorsson, Director-General of the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR).

Building Emirati capability in the nuclear regulatory sector is a priority for FANR to ensure the sustainability of its regulatory mandate. FANR has in place start-of-the-art knowledge-driven and innovation-based programmes to help build and maintain Emirati skills to regulatory the sector.

WAM