On 27 April 2020, the 42nd meeting of the Russia-CERN Committee was held which was the first since the new Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) on scientific and technical cooperation entered into force. In connection with measures to prevent the spread of a new coronavirus infection, the meeting was held as a videoconference.

The delegation of the “host” party, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, was headed by CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti; the Russian co-Chairman of the Committee was Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Sergey Lyulin.

Opening the meeting, Sergey Lyulin noted: “Nowadays we are all going through special times; the world is now in the grip of a coronavirus pandemic. All our efforts are aimed at finding an effective response to this global challenge. Unfortunately, our countries are suffering irreparable sacrifices. I mean the people whose lives COVID-19 has taken and still is taking. To our deep sorrow, this misfortune has also affected scientists who make a serious contribution to the development of the scientific dialogue between our country and CERN.” The meeting participants observed a minute of silence in memory of Danila Tlisov, a Russian young scientist whose scientific career was closely linked to CERN.

At the meeting, the parties discussed in detail the participation of the Russian Federation in the second phase of modernization of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and establishment of the High-Luminosity LHC, joint maintenance and usage of the LHC detectors, and other practical issues.

Participants of the meeting agreed to “synchronize watches” consistently in building a common scientific future. To this end, the CERN delegation presented further steps to form a European Strategy for Particle Physics. For its part, members of the Russian delegation presented information on the implementation of the Russian Federation’s initiatives for the development of synchrotron and neutron research, and the implementation of projects in the fields of megascience research infrastructure in the frames of the National Project “Science”, in particular, the NICA project. JINR Vice-Director, Academician Boris Sharkov, who represented the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research at the meeting, presented the strategy of JINR development until 2030 and beyond to the Committee. The meeting was also attended by JINR Director, Academician Victor Matveev and JINR Vice-Director, Director of the Laboratory of High Energy Physics, RAS Corresponding Member Vladimir Kekelidze.

The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled for autumn 2020.

Following the materials of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the RF