Claudia Gasparrini

Previously she had been awarded a EUROfusion Grant hosted at Consorzio RFX, Italy targeting materials performance with a focus on corrosion issues in the Divertor Tokamak Test Facility and ITER Neutral Beam Test Facilities in collaboration with Imperial, UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) CCFE MRF, Bristol University and ENEA.

She worked as Research Associate in the Department of Materials at Imperial investigating neutron irradiation embrittlement of nuclear reactors pressure vessel steels in collaboration with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Australia and the UKAEA Materials Research Facility (MRF), UK within the Neu Irr Steels programme where she led and supported the shipping of neutron irradiated steels to the MRF and the microscopy analyses across several Universities and development of mechanical testing. She also researched ion irradiated steels in collaboration with ANSTO and collaborated on micromechanical testing development.

She obtained a PhD in Ceramics/Nuclear Materials from the Department of Materials at Imperial focusing on oxidation of non-oxide nuclear fuels in collaboration with the UK National Nuclear Laboratory. She collaborated with the Institut de Chimie Séparative de Marcoule, France and the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Cadarache, France to use advanced microscopy techniques on nuclear carbide fuels. She kept researching non-oxide nuclear fuels in collaboration with the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia and ANSTO. She researched and worked in the field of nuclear waste management and decommissioning with an internship in Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd in Japan and during a MSc research placement in the field of permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuels at Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden. She holds a BSc and MSc from Padua University on Chemical, Materials and Process Engineering from the Department of Industrial Engineering and she studied Nuclear Chemistry and Nuclear Engineering at KTH as ERASMUS student.

While in Italy she served on a personal volunteering basis in key roles within the Italian Nuclear Association (AIN), also Chairing the Italian Nuclear Young Generation (under 40 section of AIN) to support technically informed knowledge about nuclear and its peaceful applications to key Italian stakeholders. She helped in re-establishing a platform of professionals and students engaged in universities, research centres and industries engaged in nuclear matters in Italy and abroad, fostering opportunity for networking, skills development and by establishing a national competition to map and award technical competence: the Italian PhD Nuclear Talent Award. She is also a nuclear speaker and was invited to several meetings and as individual expert at the JRC Nuclear Energy Summit side event in Brussels, Belgium "JRC activities for a safe and secure nuclear in Europe", and in the G7 Ministerial Meeting on Climate, Energy and Environment side event in Turin, Italy. She is also passionate about nuclear outreach, mentorship and pastoral care and she has taken on multiple commitments and roles in the field.