JINR Days in France

News, 24 February 2018

On 15 February 2018, the workshop “JINR Day in France” aimed at enhancement of cooperation between JINR and French scientific organizations was held in Paris. The workshop was dedicated to the 60th anniversary of establishment of scientific contacts between JINR and France that had been initiated after the visit of the outstanding French physicist Frédéric Joliot-Curie to Dubna.

The meeting was organized by the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) of France and took place in the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Paris. More than 90 participants representing French scientific centres, universities and diplomatic missions of a number of the JINR Member States witnessed a great step forward to strengthening cooperation between France and JINR. A Letter of Intent was signed in the ceremonial atmosphere. The letter concerned signing a Memorandum of understanding by the French Government and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. The document reveals the parties’ intentions to make every effort to tackle all relevant organizational issues in a year. The document was signed by Director General for Research and Innovation of the Ministry for Higher Education, Research and Innovation (MESRI) of France Alain Beretz and JINR Vice-Director Mikhail Itkis.

The ceremonial part of the meeting also comprised ratification of prolongation of the JINR-IN2P3 collaboration. The agreement on prolongation of the 45-year cooperation for 5 more years was signed by IN2P3 Director Reynald Pain. Documents on prolongation of collaboration agreements on the GDRI EUREA (European Ultra Relativistic Energies Agreement) and LIA JoULE (International Associated Laboratory “JOint Underground Laboratory in Europe”) were signed as well.

The scientific programme of the “JINR Day in France” allowed to exchange opinions on the wide range of issues such as theoretical physics, heavy ions physics, research on neutrons, and radiobiology. The flagship project of JINR – the superconducting heavy ion collider NICA – was presented in details. Director General of SIGMAPHI Jean-Luc Lancelot outlined the possibilities for participation of the French high-tech industry in JINR projects exemplifying them by successful cooperation between JINR and SIGMAPHI. The workshop was concluded by the round table on educational issues during which means of attracting the youth to science and the JINR role in this process were discussed.

The JINR representative delegation took part in the event. The delegation was represented by the JINR Directorate members, Directors of the JINR Laboratories, the JINR University Centre and the JINR International Cooperation Department as well as experts in relevant scientific fields. The corps of Plenipotentiary Representatives and the JINR’s country of residence were represented by Chairman of the Committee of Plenipotentiaries of the Governments of the JINR Member States and Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Grigory Trubnikov.

The mission of the JINR official delegation was finished on 16 February in CNRS where a regular meeting of the Joint Committee on the Collaboration IN2P3-JINR was held. In the frames of the meeting, inspired by the signed the day before documents, the parties discussed a plan of joint actions for increasing cooperation between France and JINR and affirmed a plan for 2018 specifying dates of scientific visits in the frames of joint projects.