On 20 May, the 17th annual International Internship for Young Scientists and Specialists from the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) started at the JINR International Conference Centre. As part of the internship, which will last until 18 June, participants will get acquainted with the JINR research infrastructure and topics of scientific research at the Institute’s laboratories as well as visit enterprises of the special economic zone and Dubna State University.

Young scientists, specialists, and students from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, representing leading scientific and educational centres of their countries, are participating in the internship. On the first day of the internship, JINR Assistant Director for Development Projects, Director of the International Innovative Nanotechnology Centre of the CIS countries (ININC CIS) Alexander Ruzaev made a report on the history of the centre’s creation, its activities and tasks. In addition, the participants made presentations on their scientific interests and hobbies as well as provided information about their countries. From 2010 to 2024, more than 450 people participated in the ININC CIS internships, and 200 young scientists and specialists received grants to develop scientific and innovative projects.

“We hold such internships with the aim of creating an information field for young scientists from different countries to learn more about JINR and the unique scientific and technological opportunities provided by the Institute. This is an important resource for attracting young specialists from the Member States to JINR as an international organization and strengthening ties with scientific and educational centres, industrial enterprises in the CIS countries,” JINR Assistant Director for Development Projects, ININC CIS Director Alexander Ruzaev commented on the aim of the internship.

On the second day of the internship, JINR Chief Scientific Secretary Sergey Nedelko, Deputy Head of the International Cooperation Department of the Joint Institute Elena Badawy, Head of the Innovations and Intellectual Property Department of JINR Igor Lensky, and Chief Engineer of the Institute Boris Gikal delivered lectures. In addition, the interns met with the heads of the national groups of JINR employees from the CIS countries. Over the next few days, the internship participants will start active work in the laboratories of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in order to establish scientific contacts with JINR employees and further develop cooperation within their specialisation.

As a result of the internship, young scientists will defend their projects, and the authors of the best works will have an opportunity to participate in the ININC CIS grant competition, which is also held annually. To prepare scientific and technical or innovative projects, the interns will work in international teams of 4-5 people. As the organizers note, a scientific dialogue between young specialists from different countries is very successfully established thanks to practical interaction in temporary creative teams. The experience has shown that young scientists keep in touch in the future, jointly participating in conferences and preparing publications together.

The participants of the 17th internship shared their expectations from the current programme:

Candidate of Technical Sciences, Leading Researcher at the Mammadaliyev Institute of Petrochemical Processes (Baku, Azerbaijan) Gyunel Badalova (as part of the work on her dissertation, she studied the products of the Biginelli reaction): “I have great expectations for this internship, because it will be the first time I will be working in a team with participants from different countries. As a chemist, I am really interested in learning more about the innovations of nanotechnology and nuclear physics from JINR specialists.”

Deputy Head of the Cosmic Ray Physics Laboratory at the Institute of Nuclear Physics (Almaty, Kazakhstan) Nurzhan Erezhep (studies air showers, cosmic ray variations, and neutrino fluxes from the WWR-K Reactor): “JINR is implementing a project that involves the development of staw-tube detectors, and we would like to master this technology at INP. Therefore I plan to visit VBLHEP at JINR during the internship. There are employees who are ready to help with training, show how the gas filling system works and how the welding process is going.”

Junior Researcher of the Institute for Nuclear Problems of the Belarusian State University (BSU), a student at the BSU Physics Faculty (Minsk, Belarus) Igor Gromov (participates in the implementation of the state programme on the creation of a laboratory complex for the synthesis of graphene and pyrolytic carbon, studies thin films based on carbon nanotubes made of tungsten sulfide): “I can call myself green, as I have not been anywhere besides BSU, that is why I would like to learn more about JINR and the various industrial enterprises, as well as network with people from other countries.”

The International Innovative Nanotechnology Centre of the CIS countries (ININC CIS), established in 2010 with the participation of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and 12 scientific and educational organizations from 8 counties, organizes the internship. Being the base organization of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the ININC CIS annually conducts internships and grant competitions with the support of the Intergovernmental Foundation for Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Cooperation of the CIS and JINR Member States.