On 11 September, a regular training programme, JINR Expertise for Member States and Partner Countries (JEMS-23), started. The participants of the internship were Pradish Rampersadh, Executive of the Research and Innovation Group at the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (NECSA) and Rudolph Nchodu, Deputy Director of the National Accelerator Centre of the country, iThemba LABS, as well as eighteen representatives of universities of the Republic of South Africa, among whom are deans of faculties, heads of departments, and teachers. The training programme was the result of an agreement between JINR and the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa as part of the work of the RSA – JINR Joint Coordination Committee.

JEMS-23 started with an overview lecture about JINR at the Institute’s Visit Centre. Then the participants visited the Booster and the MPD Detector under construction at the NICA Accelerator Complex, as well as the factory of superconducting magnets at the Laboratory of High Energy Physics. The programme of the day will continue at the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, where the representatives of South Africa will know more about the Superheavy Elements Factory and the DC-280 Cyclotron.

The first discussion about the objectives of the training programme and the development of interaction took place at the evening meeting of the participants with representatives of the JINR management and leading specialists, namely JINR Chief Scientific Secretary Sergey Nedelko, Director of the JINR University Centre Dmitry Kamanin, Deputy Director of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions for Scientific Work Grzegorz Kaminski, Extraordinary Professor of the University of Pretoria, a leading researcher of the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics Sergey Rakitianski, and an FLNR researcher, Head of the Group of South African Employees at JINR Arnoux Rossouw.

During the internship’s week, a busy work programme is planned. The participants will listen to lectures on the areas of current scientific research from the Institute’s employees and visit the basic facilities of JINR laboratories. JEMS is divided into thematic sections one for each day of the training programme, namely Heavy Ion Physics and Accelerator Technologies; Research with Neutrons and the Nanoworld; Theory, Information, Education; Life Sciences on Earth and in Space; Neutrino. In addition, the participants will become more familiar with the organization of international cooperation at the Institute and its social infrastructure, as well as take a sightseeing tour of Dubna.

A traditional round table with the participation of representatives of the JINR Directorate will conclude the JEMS-23 programme on Friday, 15 September. The results of the training programme will be summed up there. The working language of the event is English.

South Africa has been an Associate Member of JINR since 2005. The effective cooperation between the Republic of South Africa and JINR in the field of science and training of young personnel continues to develop and open up new opportunities for interaction. Currently, the Institute is conducting joint work with South Africa on 17 topics of the JINR Topical Plan, covering each of the main research areas of the Institute. Work on the organization of the JINR Information Centre based at iThemba LABS is in progress. In June this year, JINR hosted a student internship for representatives of South African universities in the research fields of the Institute.