On 10 June, five diplomas on awarding academic degrees were presented in the big hall of the JINR Scientists’ Club. Applicants defended their qualification papers at JINR according to the Institute’s right acquired in 2019 to independently award academic degrees. At the beginning of the year, the JINR Dissertation Councils shifted to updated regulations. The transition to the new specialties nomenclature is planned soon.

This time, Alan Dzhioev, Aleksi Gongadze, Maxim Eremenko, Uladzimir Kruchonak, and Sergey Yuriev received diplomas. The awarding of diplomas took place with the participation of JINR Scientific Leader and Chairman of the Qualification Commission of JINR Victor Matveev, Scientific Secretary of the Qualification Commission Oleg Belov, scientific secretaries of the Dissertation Councils and their assistants.

Alan A. Dzhioev, a citizen of the Russian Federation, has received the academic degree of Doctor of Physics and Mathematics upon the results of the defence of the dissertation “Superoperator approach to the theory of hot nuclei and astrophysical applications” in the specialty 01.04.16 – Nuclear and Particle Physics. The defence took place in the Dissertation Council for Theoretical Physics at BLTP.

Aleksi Gongadze, a citizen of Georgia, has obtained the academic degree of Candidate of Physics and Mathematics upon the results of the defence of the dissertation “Development and production of large-area tracking systems for the muon spectrometer at the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider” in the specialty 01.04.01- Instrumentation and methods of Experimental Physics. The defence took place in the Dissertation Council for Nuclear Physics at DLNP.

Maxim V. Eremenko, a citizen of the Russian Federation, has received the academic degree of Candidate of Physics and Mathematics based on the defence of the dissertation “Atomic local order on the nanometer scale in ferroelectric relaxors” in the specialty 01.04.07 – Condensed Matter Physics. The defence was held in the Dissertation Council for Condensed Matter Physics at FLNP.

Uladzimir G. Kruchonak, a citizen of the Republic of Belarus, has received the academic degree of Candidate of Technical Sciences upon the defence of the dissertation “Research on radiation resistance of high-resistance gallium arsenide for its use in elementary particle detectors at future lepton colliders” in the specialty 01.04.01 – Instrumentation and Methods of Experimental Physics. The defence took place in the Dissertation Council for Nuclear Physics at DLNP.

Sergey A. Yuriev, a citizen of the Russian Federation, has acquired the academic degree of Candidate of Physics and Mathematics upon the defence of the dissertation “Relativistic study of three-nucleon nuclei in the Bethe-Salpeter-Faddeev formalism” in the specialty 01.04.02 – Theoretical Physics. The defence took place in the Dissertation Council for Theoretical Physics at BLTP.

The awarding has become the 11th one since September 2019 when the Institute got the right to independently award academic degrees. It is already the tradition to award diplomas in a festive atmosphere. In total, 51 dissertations have been defended with the new system of awarding academic degrees. Among them, there are 11 doctoral and 40 candidate scientific works.

In his welcoming address to diploma recipients, representatives of the JINR Qualification Commission noted a number of defences that had recently taken place prepared on the basis of other organizations. They also noted the increased share of applicants from the JINR Member States which perfectly complements defences of Russian applicants. In February of this year, the JINR Dissertation Councils shifted to updated regulations on awarding academic degrees. The planned update of regulatory documents has allowed bringing them in accordance with the changes in the legislation of the Russian Federation. It has also made it possible to clarify a number of issues based on the 2,5-year experience of the Dissertation Council. Up to date, the first defences have taken place according to the updated regulations.

In August 2022, the system of the JINR Dissertation Councils will shift to the new nomenclature of specialties in which academic degrees will be awarded. These changes are due to the fulfillment of requirements of the Higher Attestation Commission (HAC) of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in connection with the update of the unified for all organizations list and codes of scientific specialties. In accordance with the action plan, in the period from 24 August to 31 August 2022, the JINR Dissertation Councils will be re-registered with the assignment of new codes to them. After the scheduled break, the Dissertation Councils will resume their work from 1 September 2022. Currently, the JINR Qualification Commission is implementing a set of measures to prepare for work on the new nomenclature of scientific specialties.