On 2 March, the second meeting of the JINR Science and Technology Council this year took place online and in the International Conference Centre in-person. The key topic of the event was the results of the past meetings of the JINR governing bodies and the discussions of the JINR Seven-Year Plan. The scope of the council’s activities over the past five years was presented at the end of the JINR STC meeting in its current membership.

The meeting was opened by the report of JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov. “The year has started out dynamically and fully,” he stressed. In January, the first in-person meetings of the programme advisory committees on condensed matter, particle, and nuclear physics were held in substantially updated membership. “The number of representatives from all three Programme Advisory Committees has grown,” Grigory Trubnikov noted. They represent South Korea, China, India, Latin America, and European countries.

At the meetings of the PAC, detailed reports were made on the draft of the new Seven-Year Plan for the Development of JINR for 2024 – 2030. Some of the extended projects will change their status to interlaboratory and joint institute. The next meetings of the committees are scheduled in June. There will be an active discussion and planning of which projects will be presented in the Seven-Year Plan, which will undergo a detailed examination by the next meetings of the PAC.

In February, the Scientific Council of the Institute also met in a new membership. Among its participants are researchers from scientific centres in Argentina, Brazil, China, Mexico, Russia, the USA, Chile, and European countries. Two new laboratory directors were elected at the meeting: Sergey Shmatov (MLIT) and Egor Lychagin (FLNP). An intergovernmental agreement with Mexico was signed alongside the Scientific Council. In late May – early June, a large JINR delegation is planning to visit Mexico, where the participants will attend four universities and hold formal meetings at the level of the government of that country.

The Scientific Council highly appreciated the achievements of JINR laboratories, highlighting the physical experiments at the NICA Complex and the bright results of the Baikal-GVD Project. Voicing the opinion of the Scientific Council, Grigory Trubnikov highlighted: “In the current conditions, the Institute holds a very high standard in its scientific programme”.

The active work of the JINR UC with the universities of the Member States and Partner Countries was noted. Thanks to student programmes and practices, as well as JINR-based departments in leading Russian universities, the Institute has received a large number of new highly qualified personnel.

The report on the work of the JINR STC for 2018 – 2022 was represented by the Chairman of the Council Rostislav Jolos. “This is our last meeting in the current membership. As a result of five years of work, I would underline the fact that we began to discuss purely scientific issues, the Institute’s development strategy, and the scientific results of the laboratories more often,” Rostislav Jolos commented.

The STC Chairman noted that the council held from four to five meetings a year, excluding the period of the coronavirus pandemic. During this period, such issues as expanding the horizons of international scientific and technological cooperation, preparation of the concept of JINR innovation activities were considered. The formation of scientific qualification certification systems at JINR based on the right to independently confer academic degrees, the creation of a higher engineering school at Dubna University and discussion of the progress of work on the NICA Project, as well as a number of other issues were considered.

Concluding the report, Rostislav Jolos highlighted that the JINR STC is the only body under the directorate representing the research team of the Institute.

In the near future, the Institute will issue an order on elections in the laboratories of the new membership of the STC. Within the next two months, representatives of laboratories within the JINR STC will be elected at the meetings of the Science and Technology Councils of laboratories.

At the end of the meeting, Grigory Trubnikov expressed gratitude for the work done to the current membership of the JINR STC and its leaders, Chairman Rostislav Jolos, Deputy Chairman Evgeny Strokovsky, and Scientific Secretary of the STC Elena Kolganova.