On 15 November, the first webinar of JINR Information Centres “Along the Meridian: From the White Sea to Southern Africa” took place. It was the first meeting of a planned series aimed to fulfil the motto of JINR “Science brings nations together”. The goal of the series is to gather already operating and future JINR Information Centres with their partner network in order to encourage their communication and coverage of the Institute’s scientific agenda.

DLNP Deputy Director, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics Dmitry Vadimovich Naumov made a report “The Universe through the Baikal Neutrino Telescope” (Baikal-GVD).

JINR Scientific Leader Academician Victor Matveev welcomed a little less than 100 participants of the webinar. He noted that although three already working JINR Information Centres pursue similar goals, all of them have their unique features. “We hope that this webinar will help establish a direct and efficient connection between JINR Infocentres and their partners,” Victor Matveev highlighted.

Coordinators of the JINR Information Centres made welcoming remarks, starting with Director of the JINR IC in the South of Russia Nelli Pukhaeva who noted a wide geographical coverage of the first IC: about a dozen scientific and educational institutions in the North Caucasus have been already involved into the orbit of the IC for three years of operation. The IT School, which has already become a traditional event, and some other international meetings are held at the IC platform. Thanks to the Inforcentre, 4 out of 15 faculties of the North Ossetian State University cooperate with JINR.

Mohammed Aish, Director of IC JINR in Cairo, which was inaugurated online a year ago and then started working in September 2021, in his welcoming speech noted that “fruitful cooperation between JINR and all the Information Centres will be achieved only by focusing on achieving the goals of these centres.”

Director of the IC in Sofia recently opened within the Year of Bulgaria in JINR Dimitar Mladenov in his turn expressed the wish that webinars of this format would be a traditional site for communication of IC representatives.

Special guests of the webinar from iThembaLABS – Deputy Director Rudolph Nchodu and Head of the Communications Group Gillian Arendse – noted the long-standing cooperation with JINR and plans of iThembaLABS on extending the network of cooperating institutions not only in Africa but also in the world scientific community.

The last welcoming speech before the lecture was given by Head of the AAEA Scientific Documentation Department Nahla Nasr. On behalf of AAEA Director-General Salem Hamdi, she expressed gratitude to JINR for the support of the Agency provided within the Memorandum of Understanding, as well as for the support of plans on opening the IC and the virtual laboratory in Tunis in the AAEA Headquarters in summer 2022.

Attracting youth to neutrino physics in general and to the project, in particular, was discussed at the Q&A session. In particular, participants discussed the JINR youth policy, repeatedly highlighted the importance of communication not only with students and graduates of universities but also with school students.

Head of the JINR International Cooperation Department Dmitry Kamanin moderated the webinar. The topic and date of the next meeting will be announced soon.