Hello, Sophie Zenkewish. Thank you for honoring the invitation to feature on this episode of
Afrinuk Podcast. I got to know about Sophie through introduction of the YGN team that's
part of the Nexero Nuts Nuclear counterpart of the COP26 delegate. She is part of the
young people that are advocating for nuclear to be part of the low-carbon energy resource
and should be considered as a viable source of energy that is green, clean and low-carbon
and also energy dense. So Sophie, I would like you to introduce yourself. Tell us about
you and what you do and yeah, just an introduction.
Hi there, it's great to meet you. Thank you for having us on this podcast. Really excited.
Just a bit about me then. I live in the United Kingdom. I live in Manchester and I work for
the National Nuclear Laboratory and also volunteer for the UK YGN for the COP26 delivery team.
So we got together in September and we've been working to hold a whole range of activities
to generally just raise awareness about COP26. And it's been a fantastic, we've had a fantastic
response so far and it's lovely to meet other like-minded nuclear-focused individuals.
What kind of responses are you talking about? It's been awesome. Honestly, we've been so
overwhelmed by how many people have been really receptive towards the things that we'd like
to do. The biggest, we set up this campaign called NetZero in Eastern Nuclear and we've
been using that to reach out and engage with a lot of different groups. So it's people
like the African YGN, like yourselves, but also a lot of other outside of sector people.
So we've had some good collaborations with the other energy forums, so not necessarily
nuclear specific. But it's been really positive.
Nice. Some people listening to us may not know what COP means. Can you tell us a bit
about COP and why we should be concerned about this?
So COP stands for Conference of the Party and it's an international conference that
the world attends. You have country representatives from across the globe and this year we're
in our 26th year of running it. It's the COP 26 and it's essentially an opportunity for
countries and countries to decide how we've got to this. You might have heard of the Paris
Climate Agreement. That was agreed a couple of years ago. So it's things that everyone
gets together in a room and we decide how we're going to work together to really make
some positive impact for climate change.
Nice. Okay. So you told us that you work with the young people and you've also volunteered
for the UK YGN. So how best or what kind of engagements and what ways have you kind of,
because the youths are very active and have, I would not say any deficits kind of attention
span but I would say they are very active and they tend to focus very little on certain
things. So I wonder how do you engage the youth and have them to commit to understanding
what you want to tell them, like the message you want to transmit to them. How best have
you engaged the youth apart from social media and yeah.
Yeah, I mean, that's a really good question. And I think that like I said, we formed back
in September 2020. So we're recording this in June. So we're a couple of months down
the line. And I think the biggest thing we've said, we've tried a lot of different ways.
What we found is that people are especially young people, they are incredibly conscious
about the environment and their future because ultimately it is we're all doing this because
it's the future that we're working towards. So I think in terms of engagement, we've actually
been really surprised at how many people care so passionately and deeply about this sort
of thing. The way that we go about and the reason why we all joined the COP team, so
there's nine of us currently that work in the core team and then obviously we've got
a fabulous amount of volunteers that really work with us. But the reason that we all joined
is because we consider ourselves environmentalists first. That's what we all think. So we really
care passionately about the environment and the sustainability of it. And then because
we care, we therefore think that nuclear should be at the table and should be one of the options
and the solutions that's helping us do that. So specifically in terms of that's why we
engaged but then in terms of kind of how we were about doing, you mentioned social media,
that's a huge one at the moment. I think that's probably how you and I met in terms of, we
saw what you were doing, you saw what we were doing and we just went, actually, yeah, we'd
like to get on board with that. We run a media campaign where the title of it is next year
in Indonesia and we encourage everyone to post about why do you think that's okay and
use that hashtag. But that's obviously a big one for us. But then there's a lot more,
there's other things like the more local kind of engagement and I'm sure you have similar
experiences but that kind of outreach and getting out into the community and really
understanding the issues. I think that's really interesting for me personally because being
part of volunteering, it gives you like an avenue to go and ask those questions.
Yeah, very good. I so much appreciate your explanation about the youth engagement. So
how do you measure your success? Kind of to say, okay, with these I think we have gotten
this level of engagement which is to some level of satisfaction or okay, at this level,
with this number of clicks or likes or this kind of feedbacks, I mean, what are the metrics,
if I may say, like how do you consolidate your achievements, if I may say?
Yeah, definitely. It's obviously a massive thing for us. I don't know what your own
nuclear related experiences like that. I think sometimes it can feel like you're screaming
endlessly into this void and you're not really hearing anything back. And obviously we need
to be conscious that because we're all volunteers, we want to put our energy where it's most
valuable. And so to do this, we set up a petition. Hopefully we can post a link to that. But
this petition is around. We've had over the time of recording, we've had 3,700 people
sign up to it. So obviously that's a huge metric that we can say, yeah, it's amazing.
I think I also sent that petition to some of my friends. So yeah.
Oh, thank you.
That's the one on change.org, right?
Yes, yeah, that's it. That's it. So that's obviously a huge metric. So that's really
useful to us when we're going to do, we've got meetings with MPs or politicians or the
general public just to say, look at this amazing amount of people that signed up to this thing
because they really believe in it. So that's a huge one. And then kind of more corporately
and professionally, I guess, we've written a position paper as well, which you can find
on the net there in music.com website. That's a scientific, independent position paper.
And what we did that right at the start, because we wanted to give organizations and
companies something that they could sign up for and kind of go, this is what we stand for
and we agree. And actually at the moment we've had, and this is honestly an incredible statistic,
again, in June at the time of recording, we've had 100 companies sign up. But within those
companies and organizations, they represent 80,000 people, at least, you know, yeah, it's amazing.
And I think the African YGN signed up for that as well, actually, which is fantastic,
because it's just a way to really reach out and find those people that you wouldn't
necessarily be able to. So they're two huge ones for us, I'd say.
That's a very big achievement from you. And it's a very viable metric to show the level of
engagement you've attracted going with your campaign for nuclear to be included as a viable
energy source. Well, that's a very great one. And this brings me to the next aspect, because
the youth are going to be coming, I believe, apart from their politicians or country representatives
that will be in those parts, in certain parts of the conference. I wonder, like,
is there any side events for the youth in this upcoming COP meeting?
Are you aware of any? Yeah, great question. So the COP is interesting, just as a bit of
background, again, and I've probably should have mentioned at the beginning, but there's two different
main avenues that you can get involved in COP. One is it's called the Blue Zone,
and one is the Green Zone. And the Green Zone is where... The Blue Zone and the Green Zone, okay.
I know, yeah. I think I've potentially may have been more creative with the names there, but
the Blue Zone is that's where a lot of the outreach and interaction with school children,
the public, that's where all that sort of thing happens. So you can imagine it's quite,
it's quite vibrant and there's a lot to kind of get involved with, touch feel, you know,
it's a bit more interactive. Whereas the Blue Zone is kind of where the decisions and the
country pavilions meet. And so we, as the UK YGM, are hoping to attend COP in person,
and we're applying through the Blue Zone. But through the Green Zone, there's a lot of other
applications that have been put in, which is around events and how we can just generally raise
awareness and engage with people. So as part of that, you have a lot of these side events. Now
we're trying to, we're hoping to run a couple. We've put out some venues, so we're hoping of doing
things like a quiz that we're hoping to collaborate with some new representatives and things like
that on. But also social media, again, will be huge throughout all of that. So there's going to be a
couple of competitions and other ways to get involved. Because we're conscious that obviously
very few people actually get to go to COP. So we want to try and make it as inclusive for those
that can't make it possible. That's cool. That's very interesting. So the UK YGM are already like
on the lineup for the events, which is very interesting. And I hope that the young people
listening to this podcast will know that they are well represented. And with you, I believe that
the young people can have a voice over there. Thank you. Keep it going. Alluta, okay?
Thank you. So are there any common pressing issues among the young people in the UK right now?
Like what are the common issues? Like in Nigeria, for example, there are some issues about the
young people being kind of restrained in their use of social media. And generally,
there is a little bit of tension on why and why not restrain the use and stuff like that.
And there is a debate whether they should continue the national youth scheme and stuff like that.
I don't know. Are there some contentious issues in the UK that might be of interest to our listeners,
if we may say? Yeah. So I think across the world, and obviously there is a degree, but there's a
real movement at the moment that's kind of bubbling up amongst all the youth at the moment,
that we want to be taken seriously and we want to have our voices heard because, again, like I
said at the beginning, it's around our future. You know, these are the decisions. The decisions
that are being made will affect us. And I think it's only right and fair that we should take
ownership of that and we should be party to being able to be involved in those sort of conversations.
Yeah. Specifically in the UK, it's, I think we've noticed whilst doing this campaign that there
are a lot more young people have opinions, right? And we want to talk about them. And I think the
benefits of running things like this campaign is that it gives people a platform and a voice. So
yeah, that's everything at the moment. And I think where you guys are being able to stand up
and stand up for what you believe in is one of the most powerful things that you can ever do. And
I would strongly encourage you to, you and everyone listening to, if you believe in something, then
that's that. And you should be able to save those things.
That's great. Can you tell us a bit about what you do in the UK National Lab? Like,
what kinds of things do they do in your organisation? Like, and how some youth are involved in them?
Can you tell us about it?
Yeah. So the National Nuclear Laboratory is the UK's laboratory for efficient. And we work across,
we have sites across the UK and we really work on a lot of activities that support
decommissioning objectives. So the kind of waste treatment. Yeah, so the decommissioning of nuclear
power plants, the kind of decommissioning objectives in terms of we'd like to help support the United
Kingdom return its nuclear sites to end states. But we also do a lot around nuclear and security
and safeguards and things like health and nuclear medicine. So it's really, really varied and diverse.
And as part of, you asked about youth engagement at NNL, we work closely with the YGN and the YGN
is part of the Nuclear Institute. It's kind of like the young person professional body
that represents all of that. So we've got a couple of thousand members across the UK that
feed into our organisation as the YGN. And really it's like you're saying about giving people a
platform to kind of unite around and really share those messages. That's very great. I see that
some of your activities, I have seen you organise in some kind of events, school competitions and
stuff like that, which is very captivating for young people. When they see that there are things
that catch their attention, they will be very much engaged in it. There are some things that
when you do it and you don't infuse some active engagement ingredients in it, some youth will
not be attracted. If you devise something like a video game for the commissioning, you will find
that some youth will be very much interested if I may say. They want to play with it and they want
to see. And you see when you do things like this and the young people begin to understand what it
means to be concerned about the environment. I remember a game that I played. I forgot the
name of that game but the main feature of the game was having a green area and if there is any
uprooting of the tree, like maybe an insect or maybe a building was going to be made,
that made the vegetation to be removed, then there will be a decrease in the score. So the way to
go up the leaderboard is to have a way of replenishing the vegetation that is removed
through any human activity. So yeah, that's a very, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think this will go a
long way to also affect the way the young people are engaged in the environment as well. I completely
agree. Yeah, that whole concept of gamification and where you, yeah, yeah, and you kind of make it,
you make it fun, you make it interesting. And that is actually something that I think we can take
into how we work with nuclear. It's a super cool place to work. It's super interesting and there's
so many different avenues that you can go down. And I think maybe as an industry, we need to work a
little bit harder to kind of reach out of our comfort zone and our bubble and go, it's awesome,
don't you want to get involved? So that's something that is definitely really big of my agenda for
sure. Have you had time with any maybe senior employee working in the nuclear environment and
maybe the story is telling, is it something that you would like to experience or something you
would like to change? Maybe, maybe this is a bit more, more personal kind of question, like going
around your job. But I wonder like, yeah, going by how interesting it should be. I wonder if it's
something you are very much excited about and every young man would be excited about too.
I love that. Yeah, that's awesome. And I think through running the NetBurne's Nuclear Campaign,
we have been able to interact with so many fantastic people in the industry and they've
got such wealth and such experience, kind of wealth of knowledge and experience that it's been
absolutely awesome to, and you have a real privilege to talk to them and kind of hear their
expertise. In terms of what I would change, I think, honestly, I think it would probably be what I
bet around that kind of engagement. There's, nuclear has got a really long and interesting
history and has had a lot of ups and downs. And I think where I'd like to position ourselves as
a nuclear industry, as a global nuclear industry is that we see ourselves as part of the solution.
We're not the solution, and we're not going to solve everything. But actually, we really feel
like we should be represented because we want to be there. Yeah, part of it. We're not going to do it
alone. And we need to work with the renewable industry. We need to work with other low carbon,
clean energy sectors. Because ultimately, we're all humans, we're all fighting for the same thing.
I would love for us to get on. And that's a big ask, though, I feel. But I think if we could work
towards that, and I think that's probably why the young generation is so important, because we
recognize the importance of working together, collaborating, being humble about the things
that we can deliver. That would be huge. That's interesting. Any bubbling side of Glasgow, you
want to suggest to potential young people that are becoming... Any places to visit. Do you know?
Yeah. I'm not a Glasgow expert, but it's going to be fun. If you can make it over, it's going to be fun.
Come on, you should start the survey now. Like begin to fish for those wonderful places to go ease of.
I think I'm shocked. Yes, of course. To express the energy. Anyway, it's been a great time talking
with you. You've had a great experience working with the National Lab and also the volunteering
for the UK YGN. And your contribution is so remarkable. And I'm very happy to talk with you
and to share time with you as well. So just for the audience that may want to know maybe how you
have progressed so far in your career, I wonder if you have any few words that you want to say,
maybe some things that helped you along the way or some obstacles you want to avoid or want the
person behind you coming to avoid stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Firstly, thank you.
Thank you for reaching out. And it's lovely to talk to you and hopefully if anyone wants to get in
touch with us, feel free to reach out through our website. We've got a content form there. It'd be
lovely to hear either opinion. Anyway, if you want to collaborate, anything like that, feel free to
reach out. And yeah, just in terms of career, I'm actually really into the industry. I came
after university. So I've actually only been here three years in terms of working in nuclear.
And I think the thing I'd say is be receptive and be positive because the people are what make
nuclear special. And everyone that I've come across is working here because they love it and
because they cared deeply about it. So stay happy. That's very good. Thank you so much. We should
stay happy and stay inquisitive. Okay, so thank you for the time. And I hope that we can see you
when we come to Glasgow if that opportunity comes our way. Absolutely, for sure. Thank you. Thank
you, Sophie. Have a good day.