Susana Clement Lorenzo, Acting Head of Broader Approach Department at Fusion for Energy, has been honoured by the ‘Women in Dones’ (WiD) collective, a group that aims to become an international platform to highlight the role played by women in the advancement of research and cutting-edge technologies in the DONES Programme.

Susana Clement takes over from CIEMAT Director General, Yolanda Benito, and the former Rector of the University of Granada, Pilar Aranda, who received this award last year. The award ceremony will take place during the course of the 2nd DONES Xcitech School, in one of whose courses he will be a speaker.

In this way, WiD wants to use the commemoration of International Women’s Day to highlight the impetus Clement Lorenzo has given to the development of fusion energy.His leadership is an inspiration for WiD members. “Through this community, we can also encourage each other to take on new challenges, learn new skills and make the most of the opportunities available within the IFMIF-DONES project. By working together and supporting each other, we can strengthen our role in the development of this centre and showcase our contributions to the field. Women in DONES is a space where women can feel fulfilled, inspired and connected, and where we can help each other reach our full potential,” says WiD.

WiD is part of the network of collectives and organisations that promote female talent in Big Science, such as ‘Women in Fusion’.

Susana Clement’s CV

 Susana Clement Lorenzo is the Project leader of the IFERC Project, one of the three projects in the Broader Approach Agreement since, June 2020. She has been the EU programme manager for IFERC in Fusion for Energy (F4E) since the beginning of the BA activities in 2007, and in 2015 became the deputising Head of the Broader Fusion Development Department. 

She started her career as an experimental physicist, first studying the effects of radiation in fusion materials at CIEMAT, and later in the field of tokamak divertor physics at the JET Joint Undertaking laboratory in Culham, UK, where she worked for eleven years in the plasma boundary group. 

In 1998 she moved to the fusion directorate of the European Commission DG Research, where she oversaw the administration of the JET programme under the new EFDA organisation and was responsible for the negotiation and oversight of international agreements in the field of fusion. She participated in the ITER and Broader Approach Agreement negotiations. 

In 2008, she joined the newly created Fusion for Energy, as a member of the office of the Director and programme manager of the IFERC activities, and later joined the Broader Approach department. As project manager for IFERC she coordinated the contributions of European laboratories and EUROfusion to the IFERC Computational Simulation Centre, the DEMO design and R&D activities, and the Remote Experimentation Centre. She is a long-standing expert of the ITER Science and Technology Advisory Committee.