On 18 March 2021, the JINR Directorate met with new Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of the Republic of Armenia in JINR, Chairman of the Science Committee of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia Sargis Hayotsyan and his deputy Artur Movsisyan.

The JINR party at the meeting was represented by Scientific Leader of the Institute Victor Matveev, Vice-Directors Sergey Dmitriev and Boris Sharkov, JINR Director Advisor Grigory Itkis, Head of the International Cooperation Department Dmitry Kamanin, and a DLNP senior researcher Grach Torosyan.

The parties discussed a number of topical issues of cooperation between JINR and scientific centres of Armenia. Participants noted the high level of cooperation and a high potential for its further development. The parties discussed also formal issues, in particular, the planning of Armenia’s contribution to the JINR budget.

Participants of the event highlighted it would be reasonable to continue working on the deployment of a network of Precision Laser Inclinometers (PLI) in Armenia developed by JINR. Sargis Hayotsyan spoke about the status of the preparation of places for PLI deployment in the territory of the Republic of Armenia being carried out by the Institute of Geophysics and Engineering Seismology of NAS of Armenia and the Seismic Protection Office of Armenia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations. He also noted that colleagues from the Institute of Mechanics of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia are highly interested in getting and analysing the data from the PLI network so that to study the mechanisms of earthquakes origins and their early warning. According to the project’s participants, it may demonstrate the advantages of the PLI and their successful use for seismology. The parties agreed that the PLI is a great example of the high-tech developments of JINR with a wide range of applications around the world.

The parties were also satisfied with the results of joint testing of calorimeter’s crystals for the Mu2e experiment at LUE-75 electron beams in the Yerevan Physics Institute. Scientists used the mode of extremely low intensities required by the experiment’s conditions. Participants expressed hope that cooperation in this realm would continue.

Participants of the meeting expressed their hope for the fast overcoming of limitations caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the resumption of working visits. It is especially significant in light of the 65th JINR anniversary celebrated this year. One of the events of the 65th anniversary will be the 5th International Conference “Modern problems of genetics, radiobiology, radioecology and evolution” scheduled for October 2021 in Armenia. The conference will be devoted to N. W. Timofeev-Ressovsky and his scientific school.

Photos by Elena Puzynina