Undergraduate student of Physics at the University of Jordan (UJ) Ruba R. Hasan has recently completed a one-month training fellowship, granted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria.

Hasan was nominated to this fellowship by Dr. Hanan Sa’adeh, the national project counterpart of the IAEA regional project RAS0078 at JUVAC (The University of Jordan Van de Graaff Accelerator) facility.

The training course entitled “Group Fellowship Training on Validation of X-ray Fluorescence analysis of Air Particulate Matter” was organized by the Nuclear Science and Instrumentation Laboratory (NSIL) of the IAEA and took place in Seibersdorf, Austria, from 6 June to 1 July 2022.

The Group Fellowship Training aimed to set harmonized procedures for implementing and validating X-ray fluorescence techniques for air particulate matter characterization in the participating Member States of RAS0078 project. It offered the training opportunity to 6 participants from ARASIA region (namely, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, and United Arab Emirates). The training course comprised of 8 theoretical lectures and 10 hands-on practical sessions over a period of 4 weeks.

"It is a great pleasure to represent UJ at the IAEA. I was the youngest participant and the only female in this training course among the participating trainees,” said Ruba. “Many thanks to my supervisor Dr. Hanan Sa'adeh for involving me in RAS0078 project, the theoretical and practical knowledge I acquired during my work at JUVAC Auxiliary Laboratory was incredibly useful to delve smoothly into the topics of the IAEA training course” she added.

In turn Sa’adeh greatly acknowledged the IAEA for funding this training course through RAS0078 project, in the framework of IAEA’s continuous support in sponsoring research projects at JUVAC facility. She also commended her student Ruba (3rd year/Bachelor of Physics), who has, according to her, a good potential to follow up in the long route of scientific research.

It is noteworthy that the regional project RAS0078 is a technical cooperation project coordinated by the IAEA with the mandate of investigating atmospheric particulate matter and air pollution source contributions in ARASIA region, including Jordan, using nuclear analytical techniques. Over the years, the IAEA has donated a number of equipment and research tools for the benefit of JUVAC facility at the University due to its role in the success of the project.