Ms. Margaret Doane, Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Management at the International Atomic Energy Agency, based in Vienna, was the distinguished keynote speaker of IWF Austria´s last Jour fixe. She talked about How Initiatives at the IAEA are being led by Women and Benefitting Women.
She presented the IAEAs mandate as the ‘Atoms for Peace`organization within the UN family and its dual mission to promote and control the Atom, explaining the role of nuclear in fighting the climate change and initiatives which help women to optimize small-scale farming through the use of nucelar and isotopic techniques. She also spoke about the role of the newly refurbished IAEA laboratories in Seibersdorf, Austria and the IAEA’s gender-related efforts.
Ms Doane explained how, under the leadership of Director General Rafael Grossi, the IAEA is making steady progress towards achieving gender parity among its staff and supporting young women from around the world to pursue STEM careers with a focus on nuclear science and technology through the IAEA Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme. In the long term, the Programme will contribute to a new generation of female STEM leaders, who will drive scientific and technological developments in their countries.
Additionally, Ms Doane, in her inspiring and vivid way, talked about the obstacles and challenges she encountered in her own career and how she overcame them. She spoke about the strategies she used to inspire her teams and about how she loves being a mentor, and noted the importance of setting goals for oneself, taking chances when they arise and helping others to succeed. As the sixth child of a family with eight children she gained strength, found mentors early on and, together with her husband, raised a family with three grown up children.
The keynote was followed by a Q&A from the on-site IWF members, mentees and guests in Café Landtmann, a traditional Coffee House in the center of the City of Vienna. It was also attended via zoom by international IWF sisters from all over the world, among them Julie Goldstein, Chair of the IWF Presidents Council and Rebecca Barfknecht, her predecessor.
