On 2 – 4 June 2019, President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) Julian Revalski accompanied by BAS Chief Scientific Secretary Evdokia Pasheva and BAS Scientific Secretary of the Division “Energy Resources and Energy Efficiency” Sevdalina Dimitrova paid his first visit to JINR. During the visit, the Bulgarian delegation was accompanied by BLTP Chief Researcher Plamen Fiziev.

The BAS representatives used the platform of this week’s 12th International training programme for decision-makers in science and international scientific cooperation «JINR Expertise for Member States and Partner Countries» (JEMS-12) to organize the visit and get acquainted with the Joint Institute. In the frames of the JEMS-12 training programme, the guests visited the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, the Veksler and Baldin Laboratory of High Energy Physics, and the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics where they were acquainted in detail with objects of the scientific infrastructure of the laboratories and attended lectures by leading scientists. Moreover, meetings with leaders of the Laboratory of Information Technologies and the Laboratory of Radiation Biology were organized for the BAS representatives. During the visit to Dubna, the delegation had an informal meeting with Bulgarian staff members of the Joint Institute and a sightseeing tour around Dubna.

JINR Director Academician Victor Matveev welcomed President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in the JINR Directorate. Head of the JINR International Cooperation Department Dmitry Kamanin and VBLHEP Deputy Director Rumen Tsenov also took part in the meeting.

At the meeting, Julian Revalski noted that the Joint Institute had achieved an impressive development for the last decade and was now a priority scientific partner for the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Victor Matveev in his turn highlighted that the JINR Directorate makes systematic efforts to develop contacts with BAS scientific organizations. Julian Revalski expressed his hope for a considerable extension of Bulgaria-JINR cooperation in view of the growing support of science by the Bulgarian government. He also emphasized the importance of informing the Bulgarian scientific community about activities of the Joint Institute and highly evaluated the potential of the JEMS format for a detailed acquaintance with JINR. The parties discussed opportunities for the cooperation development and noted a promising outlook of organization of joint projects on biophysics and computational mathematics. Furthermore, the parties noted the importance of attracting young people to science and the significance of establishing an academic exchange of young scientists.

At the end of the meeting in the JINR Directorate, Julian Revalski extended a formal invitation to Victor Matveev to take part in festive events dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences that would take place in October 2019.

Photos by Elena Puzynina