St. Kitts and Nevis, July 21, 2026 (SKNBS): A joint initiative of the St. Kitts and Nevis Bureau of Standards (SKNBS) and the Nevis Island Administration’s Ministry of Education sends three participants to landmark regional training programme.
Three professionals from St. Kitts and Nevis are among the first cohort of Caribbean nationals to take part in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Postgraduate Educational Course (PGEC) on Radiation Protection and the Safety of Radiation Sources, the first time this globally recognized programme has been delivered specifically for the Caribbean region.
The Federation’s delegation includes a chemist from the SKNBS, who also conducts radiation checks as part of the Bureau’s regulatory work, along with two science teachers from the Charlestown Secondary School in Nevis. Their participation is the result of a collaboration between the SKNBS and the Ministry of Education in Nevis, reflecting a shared commitment to building national capacity in radiation safety across both technical and educational institutions.
The wider course cohort comprises twelve participants, eight women and four men, drawn from Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. Since its inception in Argentina in 1981, the PGEC has trained more than 2,500 professionals from 137 countries, and in 2026 is also being held in Algeria, Argentina, Belarus, Ghana, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, and Morocco.
The programme is being delivered in a hybrid format, combining a virtual component completed between 30 March and 29 May 2026 with an in-person phase running from 1 June to 25 September 2026 in Kingston, Jamaica. Training covers radiation protection fundamentals, radiation measurement, biological effects of ionizing radiation, regulatory frameworks, exposure assessment, medical and industrial applications, and emergency preparedness. Each participant will also complete a practical project addressing a specific radiation safety challenge relevant to their home country.
The course is organized by the IAEA in partnership with the International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences (ICENS) at the University of the West Indies and Jamaica’s Hazardous Substances Regulatory Authority (HSRA), with the University of the West Indies, Mona, set to assume responsibility for future editions to ensure the programme’s long-term sustainability in the region.
For St. Kitts and Nevis, the inclusion of both a regulatory scientist and classroom educators signals a deliberate, cross-sectoral approach to strengthening radiation safety awareness, extending expertise beyond the laboratory and into the nation’s schools.
Speaking on the significance of the Federation’s participation, Director Stuart LaPlace commented:
“This course comes at an important time for our Bureau and for the wider Federation. Having one of our own chemists trained alongside educators from Nevis shows how seriously we are taking radiation safety, not just as a regulatory matter, but as something our young people need to understand too. We look forward to seeing how this training strengthens our capacity going forward.”
The training is expected to enhance national capacity for radiation safety oversight while equipping educators with updated scientific knowledge to strengthen science instruction at the secondary level in Nevis. Officials say the collaboration between the SKNBS and the Ministry of Education reflects a broader regional push, championed by the IAEA, to pool scarce technical expertise and build sustainable networks of radiation safety professionals across Caribbean Small Island Developing States.
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