On 10 – 17 June, the VIII Scientific Conference of Young Scientists and Specialists of JINR Alushta-2019, organized by the Association of Young Scientists and Specialists of JINR was held in the Resort Hotel «Dubna». As always, the conference was held in the format of a scientific school.

One of the priority areas of JINR research traditionally becomes the main topic of the conference. For example, this year the conference was devoted to the scientific achievements of JINR. Leading JINR scientists gave their lectures on the latest results obtained by the JINR laboratories. Young scientists and specialists, in their turn, presented reports on their research. In addition, there were discussions on the subject of lectures and a round table meeting on issues of concern to young scientists and specialists.

Among 102 participants registered to the conference there were 48 participants from six countries (Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, France, Belarus) which were invited. It is pleasant to note that, as always, there were many new people at the conference (about 60 percent of the participants came for the first time), but old friends do not forget their native Resort Hotel.

The lecturers were carefully selected by the Programme Committee from highly qualified and experienced staff of JINR. At the end of each lecture, lively discussions flared up, which also confirms the increased interest of young employees in work of senior staff members and the Institute as a whole.

In addition to lectures directly related to the achievements in the field of physics (Maria Patsyuk, Alexey Gladyshev, Ivan Bobrikov, Konstantin Gusev, Alexander Ayriyan, Alexander Karpov), an employee of the Laboratory of High Energy Physics Anna Bogomolova gave the lecture “Common mistakes in scientific texts 2.0”, dedicated to writing scientific texts in English. It was clear and interesting to all employees, no matter in what field of physics they work. It is also an interesting new practice to invite the staff members of the JINR Departments – the Legal Department, the Procurement & Logistics Service and others. Young scientists listened with interest to their reports on work and resources of the departments.

This year, students of the Engineering school of the University “Dubna” visited the conference for the first time in order to get acquainted with the major research areas of the Institute. One of the students, Alisa Tatarinova, even made a report which was highly appreciated by the Programme Committee. In addition, a poster session for high school students of the schools of the Minor Academy of Sciences of the Crimea was organized in the frames of the Conference. They presented their projects to the conference participants on posters and stands on the following topics: robotics, virtual reality, pollution control.

In addition to the scientific component, young scientists did not forget about outdoor activity; brain-quiz, barbecue on mount Demeredzhi, competitions on the basis of the sports complex of the Resort Hotel were organized and, of course, the weather and the sea cannot but please everyone. Among other things, participants noted the excellent refurbishing of rooms of the Resort Hotel and great service.

In conclusion, we would like to thank the Organizing and Programme committees, as well as the JINR Directorate for their support and assistance. Meet you at the Alushta-2020 conference!

Nikolai Voityshin, LIT JINR