Grigory Trubnikov at Falling Walls scientific summit in Berlin
News, 10 November 2021
On 7 – 9 November 2021, the JINR Director took part in plenary meetings of the international forum and had a number of working meetings with some key scientific leaders, including Scientific Managing Director of GSI/FAIR Paolo Giubellino, Secretary General of the Volkswagen Foundation Georg Schütte, Chairman of the DESY Board of Directors Helmut Dosch, Director for International Relations of CERN Charlotte Warakaulle, President of the Carnegie Institution for Science (USA) Eric D. Isaacs, Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Ottoline Leyser, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Falling Walls Foundation Jürgen Mlynek, as well as Federal Minister of Education and Research of Germany Anja Karliczek and Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the German Federal Republic Sergey Nechaev.
Commenting on his participation in the Falling Walls Science Summit 2021, Grigory Trubnikov said, “First of all, I would like to note that organizers of the Falling Walls 2021 Summit have taken the right decision to hold this forum in person. Our partners from all over the world and we have realised that even the most advanced communication technologies cannot replace the complex nature of a live conversation.
The summit platform allowed key characters of the world scientific agenda to meet. I am glad that our international scientific centre is among them. Panels of the summit reflect the frontiers of world science: climate, space, energetics, life sciences, health, engineering and technologies, etc. Discussions on these topics outline an almost limitless applied field for using basic research in particle physics, big data, and other key scientific fields of JINR.
I am very pleased with the open and fruitful dialogue we had at the summit not only with our major partners from Germany, the USA, the UK, CERN, and others but also with a lively opinion exchange with bright young researchers and innovators from all over the world. Participants discussed many potential joint initiatives. I am convinced that these ideas will be definitely converted into specific scientific projects.
I would like to highlight the social responsibility of science and scientific communication, scientific diplomacy. These fields have been one of the key topics at the summit. It shows the general global trend and society’s demand for more active interaction between the scientific community and the general population. I believe that JINR with its successful practices should be at the forefront of this issue”.
Secretary General of the Volkswagenstiftung Foundation Georg Schütte, and JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov
Grigory Trubnikov with Andrey Fursenko, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation, and Charlotte Warakaulle, Director for International Relations of CERN
Within the framework of Falling Walls Science Summit 2021, politicians, researchers, and entrepreneurs discuss global challenges at plenary sessions and round tables. Thus, on 8 November, there was the discussion “Big Science for the Future – Rekindling Transatlantic Partnerships” in which Grigory Trubnikov took an in-person part. Participants discussed the value of international cooperation for science and its efficient organization, financing of large-scale projects, accessibility of scientific knowledge to the general public, and much more. Participants paid special attention to finding ways to overcome world challenges in the field.
On 9 November, Grigory Trubnikov was an honorary guest at the summit Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year. Anja Karliczek, Federal Minister of Education and Research of Germany, a JINR Associate Member, welcomed the audience. She noted in her speech the importance of scientific knowledge for tackling global challenges and highlighted that science does not only provides information. It also develops options for actions to find answers and make decisions. The Minister stressed the necessity to involve the public in scientific policy. Such participation of citizens guarantees the use of innovations in everyday life, reflects scientific literacy of society and, subsequently, open democracy.
This year, there was Berlin Science Week held from 1 to 10 November simultaneously with the large-scale international conference Falling Walls Lab 2021. The Berlin Science Week is a big platform for discussion with up to 200 events. Participants present breakthrough research, discuss the world agenda, exchange experience.
Falling Walls Lab is a unique international site for leaders in science, business, politics, art, and society to communicate. It is a German project organized in memory of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The forum is an annual event. Each year, it aims to discuss new breakthroughs, like “falls of walls”: world-leading specialists in various disciplines present breakthrough research and developments. One of the central events of the forum is the final of the Falling Walls international competition of projects at which young researchers from all around the world present their advanced studies.