Dr. Iryna Payosova, a May 2022 EEM Doctor of Philosophy graduate, recently put her doctoral education to use at the Nuclear Energy Agency’s Global Forum Rising Stars Programme. Iryna was selected by the NEA to attend the 2025 Rising Stars Workshop that was held at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 2.10-12, 2025. Established in 1827, KTH is Sweden’s largest technical university.
Rising Star Delegates
The mission of the NEA Global Forum Rising Stars Programme is to reach within the nuclear field, adjacent disciplines and beyond to welcome rising stars in science, technology, education and policy into the global nuclear community. The 2025 Rising Stars Workshop featured high level speakers, panel discussions with leaders in the nuclear sector, a session on negotiation and advocacy skills and the opportunity for participants to present their own research.
The December 2025 event featured a networking dinner was hosted in KTH’s Reactor Hall, the site of Sweden’s first nuclear reactor. Participants also visited the KTH research labs. The workshop also celebrated the Nobel Prize Awards Ceremony taking place on December 10 with the opportunity to hear from the 2023 Physics Nobel Prize Laureate, Anne L'Huillier, and tour the Nobel Prize Museum.
2025 Rising Stars touring the Nobel Prize Museum
The Nuclear Energy Agency is an intergovernmental agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that facilitates cooperation among countries with advanced nuclear technology infrastructures to seek excellence in nuclear safety, technology, science, environment and law. It is located just outside Paris, France.
The objective of the NEA is to assist its member countries in maintaining and further developing, through international co-operation, the scientific, technological and legal bases required for a safe, environmentally sound and economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. It provides authoritative assessments and forges common understandings on key issues as input to government decisions on nuclear energy policy and to broader OECD analyses in areas such as energy and the sustainable development of low-carbon economies.
Since graduating in 2022, Dr. Payosova has had extensive experience with the WorldBank and World Resources Institute in the areas of climate change adaptation and mitigation, environmental and climate risks and resilience, climate policy analysis, macro and micro economic modelling, and economic development analysis. She also has been an active adjunct professor in the EEM program at GW.
Dr. Payosova holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the National Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv, Ukraine in Biology and Economics, and Environmental Science and Policy, respectively. She also holds a Master of Science degree in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Arizona, in addition to her PhD degree in Environmental and Energy Management at GW.
Her nuclear background initially was in radioecology and safety (environmental and health focus). Her first MSc degree was obtained in Ukraine, where she took electives in nuclear physics and radioecology from local experts who led the national recovery and cleanup after the Chernobyl accident. She also did research at the pediatric oncology hospital studying the link between radiation exposure and lymphomas and neuroblastomas in children in the affected regions.
At present time, Dr. Payosova’s interests lie in the area of integrating nuclear generation into the energy mix for increased resilience, reliability and sustainability of energy systems, and using integrated modeling approaches for site selection for small modular reactors. Her specific nuclear expertise lies in the area of environmental health and safety aspects of nuclear generation, and nuclear generation as part of energy systems and electricity markets.