The International Atomic Energy Agency’s 15th Symposium on International Safeguards is scheduled for 9–12 November at the Agency’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria. Its theme, “Innovation and Resilience in a Changing World — Safeguards as a Shared Responsibility,” reflects the continuing need for effective nuclear verification as technologies, institutions and international conditions evolve. The meeting will provide a forum to consider how safeguards can remain robust while adapting to new demands.
Held every four years, the symposium is intended to strengthen collective commitment to the system of international safeguards. That system helps provide assurances that nuclear material and activities remain in peaceful use, and depends on sustained cooperation among states, the IAEA and a broad community of technical experts. By bringing these groups together, the event supports dialogue on shared challenges and on practical ways to maintain confidence in verification.
The gathering is expected to attract around 1,000 participants representing more than 100 countries and 20 international organizations. Its programme will also feature approximately 300 scientific papers, creating opportunities to present research, exchange technical knowledge and discuss emerging approaches. Contributions are expected from people working across different areas of safeguards, including policy, science, engineering and implementation.
This breadth is central to the symposium’s purpose. International safeguards are not the responsibility of a single institution or profession; they rely on the expertise and engagement of many people and organizations. The meeting therefore brings together those whose work contributes to the safeguards system, from national authorities and international bodies to researchers and practitioners. Their exchanges can help build common understanding, identify areas for further cooperation and support the resilience of nuclear verification in a changing world.
At 14:00 CET on Monday, 9 November, the symposium is scheduled to open with a statement by Massimo Aparo, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Safeguards. His remarks are expected to establish the meeting’s strategic context: safeguards must respond to immediate developments in the nuclear environment while preserving the capacity to meet obligations over the longer term. By placing current pressures alongside institutional priorities, the opening will frame cooperation and resilience as practical requirements for an effective international system.
Aparo is expected to address changes in the global nuclear landscape and recent milestones in IAEA safeguards. These subjects connect evolving circumstances with the work already undertaken to strengthen verification and implementation. The changing environment can create new demands for the Agency and for States, while milestones offer an opportunity to assess what has been achieved and where further effort is needed. The remarks are also expected to emphasize that sustaining safeguards is a shared responsibility. The resilience of the system depends not only on the Department’s technical capacity, but also on consistent engagement, support and cooperation across the international community.
The statement will also look back at the “Ideas for Action” developed at the 2022 symposium, reviewing progress in taking those proposals forward. This retrospective is intended to link previous commitments with current work, helping participants consider whether agreed priorities have translated into practical advances. Aparo is expected to outline the Department of Safeguards’ strategic direction as well, indicating how its plans can respond to immediate challenges while maintaining readiness for future demands. Taken together, these themes position the opening not simply as a review of recent developments, but as a prompt to align near-term action with durable institutional goals. The discussion provides a basis for considering how cooperation can reinforce the safeguards system’s ability to adapt, remain credible and carry out its responsibilities amid changing conditions.
The symposium’s keynote program connects nuclear safeguards with questions of leadership, cooperation, and organizational change. Margaret Heffernan, former chief executive officer and professor of practice at the University of Bath’s School of Management, brings expertise in leadership, organizational resilience, and innovation. Her perspective highlights how institutions can respond to uncertainty, recognize emerging challenges, and sustain effective work as conditions change. These capabilities matter in safeguards, where dependable procedures and technical expertise must be supported by organizations able to learn, coordinate, and adapt.
Francesca Giovannini, executive director of the Project on Managing the Atom at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, contributes experience in multilateral nuclear non-proliferation. Her work speaks to the international relationships and shared commitments that underpin safeguards. Verification relies on technical methods, but it also depends on cooperation among states and institutions, confidence in agreed frameworks, and the ability to engage constructively across different perspectives. Giovannini’s contribution therefore places safeguards within the broader context of multilateral action and the practical demands of maintaining common objectives.
Roberto Verganti, professor and director of the Center for Art and Innovation at the Stockholm School of Economics and visiting lecturer at Harvard Business School, offers insight into innovation and organizational change. His perspective can help illuminate how institutions reconsider established practices and respond to new demands without losing sight of their responsibilities. Together, the three keynote speakers frame safeguards as more than a technical undertaking. Their areas of expertise draw attention to the institutional conditions that make technical work effective: capable leadership, durable collaboration, and the resilience to adjust when circumstances evolve. This combination is central to the symposium’s focus on strengthening safeguards through cooperation and the capacity to innovate. The keynotes thus connect operational reliability with the people, relationships, and organizational choices that support it, underscoring why adaptation and shared responsibility are integral to long-term effectiveness.
The symposium’s closing plenary on Thursday, 12 November, is set to bring its discussions to a close by connecting practical experience with the broader principles underpinning international nuclear verification. A fireside chat is expected to feature Aparo reflecting on a career spanning four decades, including three decades in the IAEA Department of Safeguards. That perspective offers participants an opportunity to consider how safeguards practice has developed over time, the expertise required to sustain it, and the continuing importance of adapting to new technical and geopolitical conditions. A career account grounded in institutional experience can also illuminate the people and professional relationships behind the work.
The plenary will also include a participant panel examining the roles and contributions of key stakeholders under the theme “Safeguards as a Shared Responsibility.” The discussion places the IAEA’s verification mandate alongside the responsibilities of states, technical experts, and partner organizations. Safeguards depend on rigorous methods and independent assessment, but their implementation also requires information, access, national systems, specialist knowledge, and ongoing cooperation. By considering how these contributions fit together, the panel can address both the practical challenges of coordination and the shared interest in credible, effective verification.
Together, the closing conversations draw the symposium’s technical and strategic threads into a common frame. Developments in tools and methods matter, as do policy choices and institutional capacity; neither can deliver lasting results in isolation. Effective nuclear verification relies on the work of the IAEA and on constructive engagement among states, experts, and partner organizations. The plenary therefore underscores that shared responsibility is not simply an organizing theme, but a condition for maintaining confidence in safeguards over time. The event is intended to serve as a forum for continued exchange, allowing participants to carry insights beyond the meeting and strengthen collective commitment to cooperation, resilience, and effective verification.
