On 30 September, the 33rd regular meeting of the Council of the International Association of the Academies of Sciences (IAAS) was held as a video conference. JINR Director Academician V. A. Matveev and Head of the International Cooperation Department D. V. Kamanin took part in the meeting on behalf of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research.

As a result of the meeting, the IAAS Council, a supreme body of the Association, decided to confer on the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research the status of a Full Member of the IAAS. The change of the JINR status from an associate member to a full member was approved by the IAAS Council taking into account great achievements of the Institute in the fields of science and education, as well as the active JINR participation in the Council’s activities. Moreover, at the meeting, JINR Director Victor Anatolievich Matveev was unanimously elected Full Member of the IAAS.

In his speech, V. A. Matveev highlighted the importance of tasks set by the IAAS and their relevance to the tasks of JINR. He noted in his report on the JINR activities the following: “In 2021, the Joint Institute will celebrate its 65th anniversary. One of the milestones of the upcoming year will be the adoption of the Long-term Strategic Plan for the Institute’s development until 2030. One of its important chapters considers a further development of international cooperation. So, strengthened contacts between IAAS and JINR, participants of which we are today, will definitely contribute to integration processes in the CIS countries and beyond. The words “Science bringing nations together” have been the Institute’s motto with its 20-year history. 20 years ago, JINR hosted the 10th meeting of the IAAS Council, and we hope that one of the upcoming meetings will be also held in Dubna.”

Background information

The international non-governmental organization “The International Association of the Academies of Sciences” was established on the initiative of President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Academician Borys Yevhenovych Paton (1918-2020) in Kyiv to encourage interaction between academies of sciences of different countries. Since 2017, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus has been the basic academy for the organizational and methodological support of IAAS. Before attaining the status of a full member, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research has been an associate member of IAAS since 1997. Full-fledged IAAS Sessions were twice held on the JINR invitations: in 2000 in Dubna, and in 2002 in the JINR Hotel “Dubna” in Alushta.