On 11 October, a JINR exhibition “Big Science” opened at the Information Centre of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research at Vitus Bering Kamchatka State University (KamSU). The exhibition is organized within the Kamchatka School on Physics with International Participation 2023. The works presented at the exhibition are to tell its visitors about big science, advanced technologies, discoveries and achievements of a global scale, as well as experiments in which employees of the Joint Institute participate. A contemporary photographer working in the style of industrial photography Mark Kozhura is the author of the art works.

The exhibition “Big Science” is a photo project dedicated to megascience facilities, scientific infrastructure, fundamental research, as well as JINR employees. It was important to show that behind the most complex research facilities, behind the “big”, fundamental science, there are people who jointly managed to achieve brilliant physical results, serving the world recognition of the scientific authority of JINR. The organizers of the exhibition strived to show that the fundamental science and bright applied research of JINR, together with advanced research facilities, can attract young scientists, engineers, technicians with an inquiring mind and courage to science. “Science brings nations together” is JINR’s motto. It was this approach that allowed Dubna to become a point of attraction for minds and talents.

“The beauty of the nature of Kamchatka Krai leaves an unforgettable impression on everyone. We also wanted to achieve the same effect,” JINR Director, RAS Academician Grigory Trubnikov said. “Therefore, it is especially pleasant for JINR to bring our photo exhibition to the Information Centre at KamSU. It includes professional pictures of the Institute’s megascience facilities, detectors, “scientific hardware”, and employees participating in extremely interesting experiments. We hope that these bright and contemporary photographs will give an additional impetus to the work of the JINR Information Centre in its key direction, namely attracting young people to science. Young people — the future of Russian science — will have an opportunity to see world-class scientific facilities. We hope they will set their hearts upon creating new facilities with their work and talent, enriching the science of the region, the country, and the whole world.”

“It’s great that we have such a partner as the Joint Institute,” Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation at KamSU Veronika Efimenko highlighted at the opening of the exhibition. “I have been to JINR twice, but I managed to go on an excursion to only four out of seven laboratories. It was so interesting in each of them. Every scientist is so passionate about their work that it is a delight to listen to them. Today, these scientists are doing advanced science at the Institute. What is more, science is not closed, but on the contrary accessible to the whole world. I am very glad that thanks to this exhibition our university, our students, fellow teachers, school teachers, and pupils themselves have an opportunity to see with their own eyes who creates science and how.”

The School programme at KamSU includes lectures, practical trainings, workshops, excursions to scientific organizations of Kamchatka Krai, and informal communication with leading scientists. Scientific Secretary of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions at JINR Alexander Karpov and a leading researcher of the Laboratory of High Energy Physics at JINR Sergei Merts are among the lecturers of the School.

“The exhibition turned out to be unusual. It is a successful attempt to beautifully capture our everyday life. The photos show everything that the Institute has achieved in the last 20 years. We can say that it has blossomed in all directions. This includes neutrino physics, nuclear physics, IT, radiobiology, particle physics. And at the centre of everything are people, researchers who have come here from different countries and are doing science here together,” Alexander Karpov said at the opening of the exhibition.

The JINR exhibition “Big Science” is one of the events of the JINR additional programme within the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development IYBSSD 2022. JINR is one of the IYBSSD organizers. The objective of the Year is to highlight the crucial role of basic sciences for sustainable development of the whole world, emphasise their contribution to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN for all countries of the world for the period of 2016 — 2030. The Year may increase awareness of the critical function of basic sciences among policy-makers, business and industry, international organizations, philanthropic foundations, universities, teachers and students, media, and the general public.

It is a great honour for JINR to be among the co-organizers of the Year. It is also a responsibility to the international community, the country of JINR location, Russia, and all the Member States of the Institute. Certainly, it is also a good opportunity for the multinational voice of our international centre to be heard all over the world. Since JINR pays special attention to the contribution of our research infrastructure to the search for answers to global challenges that the Member States face in the interests of the sustainable development of all mankind. The international intergovernmental organization JINR is the only scientific organization in Russian Federation that has been included in the number of co-organizers of the Year IYBSSD 2022.