On 14 February 2018, a Round Table was held in the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. The discussion was dedicated to celebration of the 20th anniversary of cooperation between JINR and UNESCO as well as to discovery of new superheavy elements of the Mendeleev Periodic Table of chemical elements. One more objective of the meeting was to discuss prospects for further cooperation between JINR and UNESCO in the light of contemporary issues of development of the world science and natural science education.

Welcoming speeches were made by Director of the UNESCO Division of Science Policy and Capacity Building Douglas Nakashima, JINR Vice-Director M.G. Itkis, Chairman of the Committee of Plenipotentiaries of the JINR Member States and Education and Science Deputy Minister G.V. Trubnikov and N. Tarasova who had finished her services as IUPAC President (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) at the beginning of 2018.

Following the agenda of the meeting, JINR Vice-Director M.G. Itkis delivered the report on history, present and future projects of JINR (“JINR: yesterday, today, tomorrow”). Academician Yu.Ts. Oganessian told the audience about JINR research on discovery of superheavy elements (“A fascinating story of superheavy elements at JINR”). Director of the JINR University Centre S.Z. Pakuliak presented international student programmes implemented in JINR (“International Training Programmes and Student Training: JINR Expertise”).

Reports by Martiale Zebaze-Kana, Chief of Section, the Division of Science Policy and Capacity Building of UNESCO, and N.Tarasova concerned modern approaches to solving problems of world fundamental science from the perspective of organization of UN thematic events (“International year”) devoted to a particular field of science. It is known that the UN General Assembly proclaimed 2019 as the International Year of the Mendeleev Periodic Table of Chemical Elements upon the recommendation of UNESCO. In the nearest future, UNESCO and IUPAC will draft proposals for the programme of festive events in which the present round table became the first fruits.

The Round Table concluded with the engaging discussion of modern trends of the world fundamental science development including ways and means of increasing interest to science among the youth.

UNESCO about the past events in Paris