On 18 January, the Council of Heads of National Groups of the JINR Member States resumed its work in the International Conference Centre after a break. The new Head of the national group of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Mukhamedzhanov was elected Chairman of the Council, and the Heads of the national groups of Moldova and Cuba Constantin Hramco and Katherin Shtejer Díaz were elected his deputies. A senior specialist of the International Cooperation Department Petra Benesova became the Secretary of the Council.

The participants discussed organizational issues. As before, the newly elected Council will interact with the Directorate of the Institute regarding assistance in everyday matters of employees and cultural events. By the next meeting, which is scheduled for February, the Chairman will gather the proposals of colleagues and present his vision of how further work should proceed.

“During the meeting, it was decided to develop a new regulation on the Council. In addition, by the next meeting we will have to decide on the tasks that we set for ourselves,” Yerzhan Mukhamedzhanov said.

“Social issues remain relevant for all employees, regardless of which country they come from,” Deputy Chief Scientific Secretary of the Institute Otilia-Ana Culicov pointed out. She noted that recently a new Egyptian national group has appeared at the Institute. Moreover, JINR employs quite a lot of scientists from India who have not been officially formed into a community yet, but this proposal was made at the meeting.

“With the increase in the number of employees from different countries, even non-Member States of JINR, new national groups may appear, which will also be invited to the Council so that their problems can also be heard and solved,” Otilia-Ana Culicov said.

The meeting was attended by the leaders of all national groups of the JINR Member States, with the exception of Georgia, as well as representatives of the Institute’s Leadership, namely JINR Chief Scientific Secretary Sergey Nedelko, Head of the International Cooperation Department Dmitry Kamanin, Deputy Chief Scientific Secretary of the Institute Otilia-Ana Culicov, Head of the Human Resources and Records Management Department Elena Kolganova, Deputy Head of the International Cooperation Department Anna Kotova.