From 9 to 13 December, the 2nd International African Symposium on Exotic Nuclei, IASEN-2024, took place in Gordons Bay, Cape Town, South Africa. It was organized by the South African NRF: iThemba LABS Accelerator Centre and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. The event focused on modern research of atomic nuclei under extreme conditions, in particular, at the limits of nuclear stability (from ultralight neutron and proton excess to superheavy nuclei). More than 120 specialists from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America participated in the symposium.

Studying exotic nuclear properties is one of the primary tasks of modern nuclear physics. Today, experimental research of nuclear matter under extreme conditions is the key to understanding the fundamental processes taking place in the micro and macroworlds. The implementation of numerous international projects to create accelerator complexes designed to produce beams of radioactive nuclei marks significant progress in this field.

Director of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Grigory Trubnikov took part in the opening ceremony of the international symposium. During the first day’s plenary session, he spoke in detail about the development of JINR’s experimental research programme and presented the progress of the flagship NICA Megascience Project.

The event covered a wide range of topics:

• production of exotic nuclei or rare ion beams;
• fundamental and applied research using radioactive ion beams;
• nuclear reactions and astrophysics;
• nuclear structure;
• isotopes in nuclear medicine.

On 8 December, the day before the symposium, a scientific school was organized for South African universities’ students. The programme included lectures by the world’s leading scientists covering the IASEN-2024 key topics.

IASEN-2024 gathered participants from 14 countries: Bulgaria, Brazil, China, Finland, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland. Such national diversity confirms the relevance and need for research on the properties of exotic nuclei. More than 20 specialists from FLNR, DLNP, BLTP, VBLHEP, MLIT, FLNP, and UC represented the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research at the symposium.

The IASEN-2024 International Symposium was not the only important event in South Africa for JINR. On the same dates, a new Information Centre of the Joint Institute opened at the NRF: iThemba LABS, designed to strengthen scientific collaboration and expand cooperation with research and educational organizations of the Republic of South Africa.