The NICA project is one of the top mega-science projects in Russia
News, 26 March 2015
The session of the Committee of Plenipotentiaries of JINR Member States (18) was held on 25-26 March 2015 in Dubna with participation of representatives of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), as well as two of the six Associate Members of JINR who join the Institute on the basis of the Agreements signed on the governmental level – Germany and South Africa.- The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research is one of the priorities of the RF Ministry of Education and Science, – said in his speech at the session the representative of the Russian Government in JINR, Deputy RF Minister of Education and Science Alexander Povalko. – The Institute has a glorious history and, of course, excellent prospects. Our goal is to ensure all opportunities for implementation of tasks that the JINR Directorate and JINR scientists set.
Noting that JINR is consistently developing its research infrastructure, improving the quality of equipment and efficiency of existing facilities, the representative of the RF Government pay particular attention to the large-scale project for construction of the superconducting collider NICA. A.Povalko called the formation of the necessary regulatory framework as the main goal of the nearest future, to ensure that the project will be appropriately validated and included in all routine budget documents so that it could already have regular support from the RF Government not only within the JINR budget, but also as a project of the mega-science class.- We believe that development of projects of the mega-science class is a very important direction of development of science in our country, – said Alexander Povalko in his comments to the press. – Those are sites which attract the major scientific forces from around the world. It would be very strange if countries which are significant in the world of science would not have such sites of their own. We will consistently develop this area. The NICA project is one of the six priority projects, and it is in the top list of mega-science projects, which the Russian Federation decided to support.
At the session, JINR Director Academician Viktor Matveev presented a report on recommendations of the 117th meeting of the JINR Scientific Council (February 2015) and on the results of the JINR activity in 2014.
– The most important things that we have gained are higher rates of work and responsible decision-making, – he said in an interview after the report which was taken by members of the JINR Committee of Plenipotentiaries with a visible approval. – We have entered a very active phase of the work, its scope and complexity increase extremely now, which defines the requirements for all professionals, and it is clear that we can do it. We are approaching not just the border of the two seven-year periods, but a new phase of the Institute’s existence, when we should not just execute our plans, but provide conditions for the international scientific community to join in and make active use of opportunities that we create.
One of the persuasive proofs of international recognition of the high scientific prestige of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research last autumn was the reciprocal granting of the Observer Status by CERN and JINR. In September 2014 the CERN Council unanimously approved granting of the Observer Status in this research organization to JINR (this status means that the JINR representative may attend and participate in public meetings of the CERN Council, discussions, but cannot vote). The symmetrical decision to grant the Observer Status in JINR to CERN was taken at the session of the JINR Committee of Plenipotentiaries in November 2014.At the invitation of the JINR Committee of Plenipotentiaries Chairman of the CERN Council Professor Agnieszka Zalewski and Head of the Department of International Relations, a representative of CERN to JINR Professor Rüdiger Voss attended the CP March session and made presentations on scientific and technical achievements of CERN and the 50-year cooperation with JINR.
– Cooperation between the two research institutions – CERN and JINR has been lasting for decades, – said in her commentary Professor Agnieszka Zalewski (Poland), who was not only the first physicist from Eastern European countries, but also the first woman to hold the post of Chairman of the CERN Council. – It has become a tradition, and the reciprocal granting of the Observer Status by CERN and JINR was its natural development. For understanding of the whole significance of the event I’d like to say that the European Commission and UNESCO, the UN body, are those who have the Observer Status at CERN. There is no doubt that the contacts between our institutions will continue to develop, because they are based on scientific cooperation, mutual interest of physicists in activities which are conducted in Geneva and Dubna.The Executive Secretary of the Supervisory Board of Dubna Special Economic Zone, Director of the TERRITORIAL Innovation Cluster of Nuclear Physics and Nanotechnologies SE «Dubna» Alexander Ratz participated in the March session of the JINR Committee of Plenipotentiaries.
In the photos:
1. Alexander Povalko, a representative of the Russian Government in JINR, Deputy RF Minister of Education and Science making a speech.
2.The regular Session of the JINR Committee of Plenipotentiaries in the International Conference Hall.
3. Chairman of the CERN Council Professor Agnieszka Zalewski.