On 14 September, the JINR delegation’s work in Cairo continued in the headquarters of the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology of Egypt (ASRT) where the in-person ceremonial opening of the JINR Information Centre in ASRT was held. It complemented a similar event organized online in December 2020.

Representatives of ASRT and scientific organizations of Egypt took part in the ceremony. Scientific Director of the Arab Atomic Energy Agency (AAEA) Daw Mosbah and Mahmoud Abdel-Aty, Vice President of the African Academy of Sciences, Nairobi, also were guests of the event.

ASRT President Mahmud Sakr and JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov addressed the audience with welcoming speeches on the occasion of the opening of the Information Centre.

Mahmoud Sakr noted a significant contribution made by JINR to the development of science in Egypt and added that “possibilities of the Information Centre in ASRT would not only serve the development of scientific cooperation. The Information Centre will allow young scientists to communicate with each other and with mature researchers thus learning to establish scientific communication.”

Grigory Trubnikov highlighted that the Information Centre in Cairo may also be a site for informing JINR about Egypt’s scientific agenda. “I call our colleagues from Egypt to attract scientific centres from other cities besides Cairo to the orbit of the Information Centre thus to allow JINR to learn more about scientific research of Egypt. We will share this information with all the Member States, and thus we will mutually enrich our cooperation,” the JINR Director noted. “Virtual courses and tours of the Institute’s laboratories will allow our Egyptian colleagues not only to learn about our science but also to meet people making it,” he added.

During the ceremony, participants had an online meeting with the JINR University Centre, watched educational video materials and other information products to be used in further work of the Information Centre. A virtual laboratory ready for use on site in the Information Centre supplemented the image. Moreover, the JINR Director gifted a virtual reality helmet to the Information Centre with software developed for the multimedia exhibition dedicated to the 65th JINR anniversary. This is the first element to equip the IC in ASRT with modern technical means. ASRT President Mahmoud Sakr was the first to try to “transfer” to Lake Baikal and observe the construction of the deep-underwater neutrino telescope Baikal-GVD that had become the largest in the Northern Hemisphere. ASRT President Mahmoud Sakr noted that “this tool is useful for demonstration of laboratory work and it confirms that we should introduce such technologies in our projects.”

At the end of the ceremony, participants had a round-table discussion. Daw Mosbah shared plans on opening a similar information centre in the AAEA Headquarters in Tunisia; Director of the Laboratory of High Energy Physics JINR Richard Lednický shared his observations on the development of the concept of information centres, as well as plans of the Czech Republic. FLNP Deputy Directors Otilia Culicov and Norbert Kučerka outlined the interest of Romania and Slovakia in JINR Information Centres.

Director of the JINR International Cooperation Department Dmitry Kamanin moderated the round table. He proposed the participation of the IC in Cairo in the programme of webinars under preparation as one of the first practical steps. These webinars would unite operating ICs and ICs to be opened from the North of Russia to the South of Africa. “The Information Centre in Cairo may become a significant attraction point to connect the Northern and Southern Hemispheres,” Grigory Trubnikov concluded.