On 3 – 4 March 2020, Rector of the North Ossetian State University A. U. Ogoev accompanied by Dean of the Physics and Technology Department I. V. Tvauri visited the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. The key objective of the visit was to discuss the milestones of work of the JINR Information Centre operating on the NOSU basis in the South of Russia. The IC celebrated its first anniversary of foundation in November 2019.

On 3 March, JINR Vice-Director R. Lednický welcomed the delegation in the JINR Directorate. The round table discussion was held with his participation dedicated to the milestones of work and prospects for the development of the first JINR Information Centre (IC). The meeting was also attended by Head of the International Cooperation Department D. V. Kamanin, UC Director S. Z. Pakuliak and Head of the BLTP Sector S. N. Nedelko, as well as a DLNP Senior Researcher N. E. Pukhaeva, a coordinator of the JINR-NOSU cooperation, who accompanied the delegation.

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Presenting the results of the IC work, the NOSU representatives noted a consolidating role of the IC in Vladikavkaz in the popularization of the activities of the Joint Institute and science at large in the North Caucasian Federal District of Russia (NCFD). It was noted that work of the Centre allowed optimizing the NOSU scientific programmes, deepening interaction with teachers, as well as launching popularization work with children. The NOSU representatives noted the increase in the number of first-year students at the Physical Department of NOSU as one of the practical results of IC activities. Thanks to information about JINR opportunities they see promising future in science. Moreover, work with industrial companies of the NCFD is developing. Thus, for example, the “Gran” enterprise develops detector systems for the NICA collider in cooperation with NOSU. The participants of the meeting also discussed proposals for further development of joint educational programmes, including those with the use of JINR developments in the fields of modern educational technologies such as the Virtual Laboratory and VR-technologies.

The JINR representatives expressed their gratitude to the colleagues from NOSU for efficient work of the IC and significant results achieved in a year of its operation. The primary importance of educating physicists and engineers for both the Joint Institute and the NCFD was highlighted. To indicate successful operation of the IC it was noted that several Member States had already expressed their wish to open similar JINR information centres, so the NOSU experience would be of great value in this regard. On behalf of the JINR Directorate, R. Lednický expressed the readiness to provide comprehensive support to the NOSU activities aimed to develop the JINR IC. A. U. Ogoev extended an invitation to the JINR leaders to take part in solemn events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of NOSU and the second anniversary of JINR IC. The events are scheduled for October 2020.

The second day of work of the delegation was dedicated to the acquaintance with objects of the JINR scientific infrastructure and meetings with heads of the laboratories. The guests visited the Laboratory of High Energy Physics where they saw the NICA complex under construction and the factory of superconducting magnets. The delegation met with VBLHEP Director, Head of the NICA Project V. D. Kekelidze and discussed the development of NOSU participation in the NICA project. LIT Director V. V. Korenkov and Deputy Director T. A. Strizh welcomed the delegation in the Laboratory of Information Technologies. The guests had a tour of the LIT computer centre where they saw the supercomputer “Govorun” modernized in November 2019. At the end of the visit, the delegation got acquainted with the Nanocentre of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions. Head of the FLNR Sector A. N. Nechaev accompanied the guests.

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The NOSU representatives gave their comment on work of the first JINR Information Centre to the Institute’s mass media.

Rector of the North Ossetian State University A. U. Ogoev, “If we consider what we have done for the last two years, then the most important result is the opening of the JINR Information Centre, so now the Joint Institute is present in the South of Russia. The IC has become a centre attracting all interested people: school students, teachers, young scientists and those interested in JINR research. Thanks to the Centre, information about the Institute’s opportunities is spread, colleagues from JINR visit NOSU. Nowadays, these events have practical meaning already. Leading specialists come here, such as Director of the Laboratory of Information Technologies V. V. Korenkov, as well as other colleagues engaged in research in various fields. We have already covered such fields as biology, chemistry, IT and physics. It is very important for us that colleagues from JINR bring us scientific schools and lectures, share the latest achievements of the Joint Institute. It is especially important that this process has already acquired the format of daily work.

We hope that our cooperation will continue to enhance: we expect great involvement of a large number of people in this process. We are talking about training programmes, participation in schools held at the JINR site. Moreover, we are very interested in the development of participation of our young scientists as well as those who work in the JINR IC at NOSU in the frames of the mega-science project NICA. Two of our young specialists have already trained at JINR and have been engaged in NICA. So, we hope that their number will increase. A computing cluster has been recently set up at NOSU. It will allow us to join the JINR computing network. We learn this field and start to do tasks on modelling in the frames of the MPD experiment. Furthermore, works in the frames of the mega-grant of Minobrnauki on the production of sensors for NICA is underway at our site.

I would like to highlight that we are open and share information and opportunities of the IC with our colleagues in the district: the Republic of Dagestan, the Chechen Republic, the Republic of Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Stavropol Krai. We see our first-priority task, namely not just to be a geographical centre in the NCFD but also an information centre promoting this direction.”

Dean of the Physics and Technology Department I. V. Tvauri, “Today, any guest coming to our Department pays attention to the presence of the Joint Institute. We are proud of this partnership and we are glad to be a guide for colleagues in the NCFD. We received thank-you letters and a lot of positive feedback from specialists of the North Caucasian Federal University and Dagestan State University, who took part in the 14th JEMS training programme in December 2019, for being a kind of a link between JINR and the NCFD.

We can confidently say that the opening of the JINR Information Centre has significant practical results. For example, the IT School held this year was organized for 50 participants. However, it attracted more than 70 young people from all over the NCFD, almost all the universities of the district took part in the event. As a result of the School, five people came for training, passed the school held jointly by JINR and the University “Dubna”. Three of them were in the top-30 school students according to the results of the School. They were not senior students, and this demonstrates their high level of training. According to the results of the selection, the best student went to Montenegro for participation in the NEC’2019. He continues to work in the chosen field. We have already mentioned the JINR computing cluster set up at NOSU. To demonstrate how great the interest in JINR projects is I would like to say that during all the time the cluster was being set up, our students from the Physics Department were constantly there despite holidays. They almost occupied the Department.

Work of the JINR IC and an opportunity to send our students to Dubna are significant for us. They come back so inspired and motivated that pass on this charge of enthusiasm to other students giving an additional impetus to the spread of information about JINR and the involvement of our youth in science.”

Photos by Elena Puzynina