On 10 October 2025, the first plenary meeting of the Skills4Nuclear (S4N) project took place online, on month 6 out of 36 of the project’s implementation. It brought project partners together to discuss the various work packages and the timeline for the project’s upcoming activities. It also gave project partners the opportunity to exchange on existing skills initiatives and on the possibility to apply best practices implemented at local and national levels to EU level.
The meeting started with an introduction by project coordinator Teresa Retegan Vollmer, before Evalion’s Jakub Heller gave an update on project management activities, and on the timeline for the submission of future project deliverables.
The project’s second Work Package activities, on the European Forum for Nuclear Workforce and Skills, were then presented by SCK CEN’s Jakob Luyten. He specifically highlighted key milestones, such as the publication of a collection of workforce assessment studies on the Skills4Nuclear website.
Following Jakob’s presentation, Work Package 4, on the topic of Education and Training, was presented by European Nuclear Education Network (ENEN)’s Gabriel Pavel, who detailed the ongoing work to assess existing Education and Training programmes, create a multidisciplinary curriculum for nuclear skills, engage and align with existing strategies and identify upskilling and reskilling opportunities.
The morning session then concluded with a presentation from Caen University (UniCaen) – represented by Hélène Bouraïma-Lelong, Valentin Mignon and Agathe Kervella - on Work Package 5, which focuses on strategic foresight and funding opportunities. They specifically highlighted the potential for mutual learning and cooperation, and looked into how nationally funded programmes in the nuclear sector can leverage additional funding from regional and local authorities.
The afternoon session was dedicated to the presentations of Work Package 3, on communications and dissemination activities, and Work Package 6, on the development of a nuclear skills strategy. It also allowed partners to exchange with representatives from French employment agency France Travail, who shared information about their initiatives on nuclear skills in the French Auvergne Rhone-Alpes region.
Nucleareurope’s Jessica Johnson presented the work conducted under Work Package 3, highlighting the recent publication of two deliverables, on the project’s Communication and Dissemination Plan, and its Communication Toolkit. She also gave an overview of the progress made towards the development of the project’s Stakeholder Engagement Plan. Nuclearelectrica then gave the final Work Package (WP6) presentation of the day on the Nuclear Skills Strategy. They highlighted the need for a clear vision and mission to define long-term goals, which include specific, measurable objectives.
Concluding the meeting, representatives from French employment agency France Travail were invited to give an overview of their initiatives on nuclear skills. They detailed their work to match job seekers with employment opportunities tailored to their skills and develop new recruitment methods based on testing candidates’ skills and abilities. Their intervention allowed for fruitful exchanges with project partners, specifically on the possibility to exchange best practices with external stakeholders such as France Travail.