Today, the joint JINR-MIPT School on Quark-Gluon Plasma Physics has been launched becoming the first event held at the new building of the JINR University Centre. During five days, participants will become acquainted with the Joint Institute and its projects, listen to a number of lectures, and make a tour of the JINR laboratories. Director of the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Head of the Department of Fundamental and Applied Problems in Microworld Physics at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) Dmitry Kazakov opened the programme of the School with his lecture.

The intensive School on Physics of Quark-Gluon (Hadron) Matter is being held in Dubna for the first time and is designed to acquaint children with projects implemented at JINR. The event is also aimed at attracting future specialists to experiments on testing fundamentals of quantum chromodynamics at the NICA Complex. Lectures of the School will cover the theoretical principles of the microcosm, from the basics of quantum mechanics to the features of the strong nuclear interaction. Speakers will talk about methods and approaches to a modern experiment in high-energy physics, and provide the current general picture of research in this field in the world. In addition, participants will learn about the JINR-based Departments and the opportunities that they open up to students during and after their study.

The School has attracted great interest. Organizers considered 200 applications of 1-4-year students of different directions of universities from all over Russia and selected only 35 among them. “It is great to see so many young people interested in science and JINR projects,” Vice Director and Leader of the NICA Project Vladimir Kekelidze highlighted in his welcoming speech at the opening of the School. “Plutarch said that the mind was not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled. We hope that the current School will kindle your interest in our projects, and you will join in solving tasks at NICA in future.”