Professional development often extends beyond the day-to-day role, with Branches, Groups and Networks providing opportunities to build new skills, broaden knowledge and develop valuable connections across the nuclear community. UK National Nuclear Laboratory’s Sophie Cooper and Antonio di Buono are putting those opportunities into practice through their involvement with the Nuclear Institute.
Sophie and Antonio are both Co-Chairs of the NI University Network and are also involved with the North West Branch and other NI groups, helping to connect professionals, academics and students while developing skills and networks of their own.
We spoke to Sophie and Antonio about the professional benefits of getting involved with NI Branches, Groups and Networks, how volunteering can support development beyond the day job, and their work to strengthen connections between academia and the nuclear industry.
How do NI Branches and Groups help you develop greater professionalism?
Sophie Cooper: “Sometimes, when you’re working in a company, it’s all too easy to just have internal conversations and not really reflect on wider industry challenges or engage with other people who are working on similar problems. Branches and groups help you see what's going on beyond your little bubble.”
Antonio di Buono: “In nuclear, we succeed when we work together but if someone or something fails, the whole sector will fail – so for me, one of the most important things the NI does is develop a sense of community. The activities you can get involved with help to build a group of friends, colleagues and people that share the same values. We are all nuclear experts and that is something of which we should be proud.”
How have you personally engaged with the NI in those areas?
Sophie Cooper: “I’m Co-Chair of the NI University Network, University Liaison Officer in the North West Branch and Secretary for the Nuclear Academic Industrial Liaison Society (NAILS), which is part of the NI. That’s enabled me to have contact with a range of people from industry and academia and it has really helped with my role at NNL. It's allowed me to have conversations with people I otherwise wouldn't have talked to.”
Antonio di Buono: “I am Co-Chair of the NI University Network, University Lead for the North West Branch and I contribute to the Digital SIG. These roles have given me the opportunity to lead activities and projects – organising a workshop, a site visit, contacting people, making budgets – and that has given me skills that I don’t get in my daily job.”
What's the value for your organisation?
Antonio di Buono: “The volunteering activities all align with my company’s core values – collaboration, innovation, taking responsibility – so my involvement has helped me grow in those areas.”
Sophie Cooper: “As well as helping me to develop skills that are useful for my job, the group networking helps create new projects and new connections. My involvement in NAILS has helped me to communicate what we're doing at NNL, which has also benefited the company.”
How do the different types of professional groups differ?
Sophie Cooper: “The YGN is a great starting point to getting involved and a lot of people begin with the speaking competitions or the ‘Intro to…’ events, which are a great way to learn beyond your own speciality. It then feels like the branches are that next step because they are not age-restricted and they give you a wider range of what's going on. They also offer a less formal side to professional networking – it's all about friends getting together, chatting about the industry and finding out what goes on beyond your day-to-day focus. Then, the Special Interest Groups feel like that next step to be a bit more in depth and influential in a specific area, rather than just networking and meeting people in the area you're in.”
Antonio di Buono: “It depends on how you want to engage. If you’re interested in knowledge sharing and understanding the state of the art, being part of a SIG that aligns with your expertise offers a great opportunity to see what other researchers or companies are doing, but also to present your own work to a wider audience. Branches are great for becoming part of a community in the area where you work and they are also important for retaining people in the industry, because if you are moving from one place to another, you can lean on this community for advice on where to live, where to go shopping, where to go for a drink and so on.”
How do groups and conferences compare?
Antonio di Buono: “When you go to a conference, you might listen to a couple of speakers, try to engage them with questions, ask for their contact details and follow up on LinkedIn or by email, but it’s always challenging because you need to be extrovert to take courage to ask questions or introduce yourself. In the SIGs or other NI groups, it's a more familiar environment, so there is a lower threshold to engage with people. Once you are in a group, you start to know the same people and you feel you can more easily ask a question if they can help on a task. It creates a place where it's easier to interact with other experts.”
Sophie Cooper: “There is less familiarisation at conferences, so the conversations are quite formal. Being involved in groups gives you a more connected, longer-term perspective on professionalism because you're meeting more regularly, organising events or doing activities together, so you become closer friends and you can have those deeper conversations.”
Tell me about setting up the University Network – how does that work?
Antonio di Buono: “When I joined the North West Branch, I looked into the membership and saw that despite having some of the most important universities in the UK for nuclear – Manchester, Liverpool, Lancaster – we had very few members from these universities. I suggested we build a network that can improve the knowledge sharing and bring in their expertise and opinions. Sometimes, academics don't see the value of joining the NI – but for early career students, it acts as an entry point to the industry because we do a lot of activities with industry partners, and for academics, it helps to encourage more collaboration between academia and the industry. At universities, some researchers are doing brilliant things but they don't reach the industry partners – and vice versa, industry partners have some very challenging and interesting problems that academics may be able to solve. We are trying to put the two together through the NI, to give a value for both industry and academia.”
Sophie Cooper: “So far, we've helped to develop a few nuclear-based societies at different universities to help students find out more about what's going on at the NI and now we’re looking to set up a SIG, because we've got universities well outside the North West. It has also been really useful finding out what's happening at a research level at different universities and for the PhD students involved, it's really opened their eyes to what goes on in the industry beyond their academic research.”