The RSS holds second convening of its CBRN Office Advisory Board Meeting
by RSS Media Centre
16th Sep 2023
The Royal Scientific Society (RSS) established a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Office in 2022 whose mission is to promote scientific and technical collaboration in the CBRN field. Through the development, facilitation, and implementation of impactful programming, the CBRN Office works with national, regional, and international partners from government and non-governmental organizations to promote research and best practices in CBRN risk mitigation.
With the participation of HRH Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan, the CBRN Office held its second Advisory Board meeting by hosting high-level delegations from the United Nations’ Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the United States’ Department of Energy, Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The members of the Advisory Board first met Jordan’s national stakeholders representing different government, military, civilian, and non-profit organizations to learn about the CBRN Office’s activities over the past year and to identify future programming that will support Jordan’s capacity to adapt, adopt, and address CBRN safety and security issues that the country may face.
The CBRN Office further updated the Advisory Board on a number of ongoing professional development activities for the government and public institutions related to first response to CBRN events, border security, human reliability in nuclear security, risk mitigation, and the removal and replacement of Caesium-based blood irradiator devices with safer X-ray-based alternative technology. Furthermore, upcoming projects in public health (bio-safety and bio-security, chemical safety and security), nuclear safety and security, energy and climate security (climate security and nuclear energy), and disruptive technologies (tracking databases and cyber security) were presented and discussed.
At the end of the Advisory Board meeting, HRH Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan and Dr Amir Mohagheghi signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) between RSS and SNL. The aim of the LOI is to further joint research and development, conduct capacity building, technical support, research training, cultural fields, and professional development projects in areas of mutual interest to the extent practicable.
To strengthen the collaboration and coordination with national institutions, the meeting agenda of the CBRN Office’s Advisory Board included visits to the Ministry of Health’s Crisis Management Centre, the National Centre for Security and Crises Management, and to the Jordan University for Science and Technology.