On 25 October 2018, a joint meeting of the JINR Science and Technology Council and the JINR Directorate was held in the International Conference Hall.

JINR Director V.A. Matveev informed the audience about work of the JINR Directorate. He told participants about the milestones of the 124th Session of the JINR Scientific Council, delegations from different countries that had visited JINR in the past two months, recent meeting of the Working group under Chairman on financial issues of the Committee of Plenipotentiaries of JINR, the visit of leaders of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation headed by Minister M.M. Kotyukov. In the light of the recent speech of the RF President V.V. Putin at the meeting of the Council for strategic development and national projects in the Kremlin, JINR Director drew attention to a strict control over implementation of the plans and work at the NICA project that was included in the list of national projects of Russia. V.A. Matveev told the audience about the signed agreement with the Medical Unit that is aimed at improving medical service provided to the JINR staff.

STC Chairman acquainted JINR Director with the appeal of several staff members concerning queues at the checkpoints. V.A. Matveev noted that the situation got complicated, and the JINR Directorate would do everything possible in the current conditions to normalize the situation with admission of staff members to both JINR sites.

R.V. Jolos, I.V. Koshlan, M.G. Itkis, A.A. Mikhan, A.I. Frank, Yu.K. Potrebnikov, R. Lednický, I.N. Meshkov, G. Adam delivered questions and made comments.

Rector of the University “Dubna” D.V. Fursaev presented information on establishing the Higher School of Engeneering in the University. He noted that the International School of Engeneering (higher engineering-physical school) is a joint educational project of JINR and the Dubna University aimed at training specialists engaged in the fields of engineering, use of physical facilities and equipment in solving scientific, scientific-applied tasks as well as in development of special high technologies.

In addition to learning general technical disciplines, students of the International School of Engeneering will attend a set of special courses with a widened practical part on the basis of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and scientific centres and enterprises cooperating with JINR.

Talented students of the University “Dubna”, who study at the departments allowing mastering of this specialized course, will be selected to the School after the first term. Important elements of training in the International School of Engeneering are a vast amount of practical lessons and project activities.

Students of the State University “Dubna” studying at the International School of Engeneering will be granted increased scholarships. In addition to the state diploma, after successful completion of training graduates will be awarded a diploma of the International School of Engeneering and documents proving additional education, vocational training that will certify completion of vocational training in the relevant programmes of the School. Graduates of the School will be in demand in the large-scale projects of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, such as the project being implemented now, namely the NICA megascience project, the Factory of superheavy elements as well as in the future projects.

The report met a vivid and involved discussion in which D.V. Peshekhonov, I.N. Meshkov, I.A. Savin, Yu.Ts. Oganessian, D.I. Kazakov took part.

JINR Vice-Director B.Yu. Sharkov reported on progress of preparing regulations for admission of JINR nominative scholarship holders (post docs). He noted that due to the recommendation of the Committee of Plenipotentiary Representatives, the programme of selecting young scientific staff members to the JINR Distinguished Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Programme, n.a. outstanding JINR scientists, is aimed at the staff support of major scientific research and flagship projects of the Institute. The programme will provide an opportunity for young talented scientists at early stage of their scientific career to take an active part in scientific research of JINR carried out at the cutting edge of the world science. The programme supposes a competitive selection of participants able to offer and head new projects of the international level. B.Yu. Sharkov introduced to the audience the requirements imposed to participants of the competition and its arrangement procedures as well as principles of establishing an advisory staff committee responsible for the competitive selection.

Questions and comments were addressed to the reporter by Yu.K. Potrebnikov, D.V. Peshekhonov, I.A. Savin, S.N. Nedelko, D.I. Kazakov, Yu.Ts. Oganessian, V.A. Matveev.

Drafting of another document – concept of innovative activities of JINR – was reported on by JINR Assistant Director for Innovative Development A.V. Ruzaev and Deputy Head of the Human Resources and Innovation Development Office A.E. Belomestnova. The authors propose to include a list of activities of high priority for JINR in terms of technology transfer and innovation in the draft concept. When finalized, agreed and approved, it can become the basis of regulatory documents. The provisions of the JINR regulatory documents were taken into account in the development of the concept: the Charter, the agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and JINR on its location and conditions for activities, the Seven-Year plan for the development of JINR in 2017 – 2023, the JINR Topical Plan for 2018, intellectual property regulation, regulation for budget, etc. The offered projects of technological development are selected according to interviews with leaders of the JINR laboratories. In general, a useful analysis of the world practice of innovative activities was presented in the report.

The Concept was discussed by D.V. Peshekhonov, S.N. Nedelko, A.A. Baldin, S.N. Dmitriev, V.N. Shvetsov, I.A. Savin, I.N. Meshkov, V.A. Matveev. All commentators highlighted that the key determining factor in the JINR activities is fundamental research. Of course, new ideas, developments are generated in the course of the projects’ implementation that can become the basis for further applied research and become interesting for the industry. A constantly operating selection system is needed for the results, their further presentation and bringing to likely users.

Senior engineer of the International Cooperation Department A.A. Suschevich reported on participation of JINR in the Festival NAUKA 0+.

Participants of the meeting unanimously supported nomination of D.I. Khubua as a member of the Academy of Sciences of Georgia. The candidate was represented by N.A. Russakovich.

Evgeny Molchanov, JINR Weekly Newspaper