Meetings of a bilateral commission on cooperation between Poland and JINR were held on 2 – 5 April 2012 in Krakow. JINR Director V.A. Matveev, JINR Vice-Director M.G. Itkis, Assistant Director V.V. Katrasev, FLNP Director A.V.Belushkin and the Leader of Polish national group in JINR W. Chmielowski participated in the meetings. On the Polish side were JINR Plenipotentiary of Poland M. Waligórski, Professor M. Budzyński, Professor W. Nawrocik, Professor R. Sosnovski, representatives of the National Atomic Energy Agency of Poland.

The objective of our meetings with Polish colleagues were discussions of joint research programmes, and progress on grants of the JINR Plenipotentiary of Poland. At the Institute of Nuclear Physics we discussed prospects of development of nuclear medicine, including proton therapy with interested scientists and experts. General Director of the Institute of Nuclear Physics M. Jeżabek expressed his deep gratitude to specialists of JINR, and personally to V. Morozov, and E. Samsonov, for support in implementation of a project of an accelerator complex for proton therapy of eye melanoma. We got acquainted with a new specialized accelerator, manufactured by IBA, which is analogous to the cyclotron assembled now in Dubna for Dimitrovgrad, and discussed prospects of cooperation in this area.

At the Jagiellonian University, which is one of the oldest in Europe, we discussed with the Rector K. Musioł and his colleagues issues of possible participation of JINR scientists and specialists in development of a synchrotron radiation source at the energy 1.5 GeV, which is funded by the European Union. An acquaintance with development of an industrial park of the Jagiellonian University made great impression on our delegation. Companies which are developing biology, information technology and other areas demanded by modern society have already started its work there. An area for construction of a source of synchrotron radiation was defined and the building already started. A campus for prospective students is also being built. The work of the electronic library was organized superbly; it allows access to any book from the vast book depository of the university. Visiting the Museum of the Jagiellonian University which keeps many relics testifying to the glorious history of the University has left another vivid impression on us.

All meetings with Polish colleagues were extremely friendly, and we do not have any doubt about successful development of cooperation of JINR and scientific centers of the Republic of Poland. I think it will even strengthen in the course of our round tables which were set out in the same way as the recent Czech Days in Dubna and the coming JINR Days in May in Prague”.

The visit to the medical cycloton under construction at the Institute of Nuclear Physics, Krakow. Photo by Alexander Belushkin