The NEA organised a workshop on the "Nuclear and Social Science Nexus: Challenges and Opportunities for Speaking Across the Disciplinary Divide" on 12‑13 December 2019. The first‑of‑its‑kind event brought together over 100 participants, including social science and humanities researchers, academic nuclear engineers, practitioners and policy makers.
The two‑day workshop aimed to build intellectual bridges across the nuclear and social sciences, as well as the academic and practitioner divides.The participants examined the current scope of research in the social sciences with a focus on nuclear energy, and identified ways of transforming research findings into recommendations for practice.
Selected papers from the workshop will be published in a forthcoming special issue of the nuclear engineering journal Nuclear Technology. Workshop participants expressed a keen interest in developing inter- and transdisciplinary research collaborations and continuing their dialogue beyond the workshop. The NEA will work to identify opportunities for such collaborations in the coming months.