A striking example of continuity of generations

From 30 October to 3 November, the XXVII International Conference of Young Scientists and Specialists (AYSS-2023), dedicated to the 110th anniversary of the outstanding physicist Bruno Maksimovich PONTECORVO, was held in Dubna.

At the grand opening, Assistant Director of the Institute for the Development of Medical and Biological Projects, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Grigory Shirkov (in the photo), reminded the participants about the history of the event: "This Conference is a vivid example of the continuity of generations and originates from the first councils of young JINR scientists in the 1970s and 1980s. It developed during the difficult years for the Institute and all science in the 1990s. It is all the more gratifying to see that this event has not only become traditional, but every year, attracts an increasing number of participants."

This year, the Conference brought together a record number of participants - more than 240 young scientists from South Africa, Cuba, India, Serbia, Syria, Egypt, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. About 150 oral and 80 poster reports were presented in nine thematic sections.

The plenary part of the Conference included review lectures from leading experts on the work and life of Bruno Pontecorvo, the Standard Model in modern science, dark matter research, the development and technology of accelerators, astronomy and cosmology. The programme of lectures reflecting the fundamental contribution of B.Pontecorvo to physics and the current state of the art in this field of research, with an emphasis on the work carried out at JINR, was specially compiled by the Conference Programme Committee under the supervision of JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov and DLNP Deputy Director Dmitry Naumov.

Specialists from JINR and INR RAS that gave plenary lectures, noted the keen interest of the participants and the high level of questions asked. Discussions often went beyond the 20 minutes allotted by the schedule and continued even during breaks between lectures. Therefore, it was difficult for the speakers to cope with the traditional task - to determine the best question to present a gift - a sweatshirt with one of Mikhail Bilenky's cartoons. The second sweatshirt of the same type remained with the speaker: it created a unique relationship between scientists, laboratories, cities and even countries.

JINR Scientific Leader Victor Matveev said: "I am very impressed by the level of the lecturers that spoke brightly and meaningfully about the current state of science and by the level of the participants themselves that asked deeply thought-out questions. It's nice that such a shift grows among us. Young scientists are ready to make discoveries and are eager to get active, so it is very important for us to help them to get into the real science as soon as possible."

Advisor to the Director of the Institute for International Cooperation Irek Suleymanov presented the key elements of the new JINR Communication Strategy in his report.

The second half of the day was spent working on thematic sections. The jury members selected the best reports. Like the plenary speakers, they were faced with a difficult choice due to the high level of preparation of the reports. Later, JINR Scientific Leader Victor Matveev, Assistant Director of the Institute for the Development of Medical and Biological Projects Grigory Shirkov, DLNP Deputy Director Dmitry Naumov and BLTP Leading Researcher Valentin Nesterenko presented the winners with memorable prizes.

"The Conference perfectly united items of a scientific forum and an educational school, the latter of which I especially appreciate for its significance for young scientists striving for new knowledge. The participants showed their full potential and demonstrated their research at a highly professional level. It was felt that everyone enjoyed the Conference and the scientific topics discussed aroused keen interest. The discussions were fruitful, new professional contacts emerged," Co-chairman of the Programme Committee Dmitry Naumov commented.

At the poster session in the JINR Conference Centre, the expert jury chose the best report; based on the voting results, the "Audience Choice Poster" was also selected.

The Conference was carried out by the Programme Committee that was responsible for the scientific part and the Organizing Committee that ensured both adherence to the schedule of events and a comfortable environment for each participant. The Co-chairs of the Organizing Committee this year were Lyudmila Kolupaeva (DLNP) and Alexander Nezvanov (FLNP).

They said: "The Organizing Committee of the Conference consists mainly of young JINR staff members, members of the JINR AYSS. However, the Conference is the result of coordinated work of two committees, as well as JINR laboratories and services. DLNP, VBLHEP, FLNP and FLNR extensively offered their assistance to external participants of the Conference and colleagues from the International Cooperation Department, Financial Planning Department and University Centre helped us in meeting issues that arise."

Each working day started at 8:30 AM with a special session. It was hosted by participants from different countries. The main goal was to tell colleagues about home country (Cuba, South Africa, India, Serbia, Vietnam), about the state of science and of education system in it.

The events of the evening programme were thought out so that the participants of the Conference could learn about the social infrastructure of JINR and be imbued with the international creative spirit of the Institute.

On 29 October, a concert by Aida Avanesyan, a young gifted pianist from Armenia, was held at the JINR Club of Scientists.

On 31 October, the JINR Universal Library named after D.I.Blokhintsev celebrated International Dark Matter Day. A scientific and entertainment quest was prepared for the citizens of Dubna and participants of the Conference. It was held in the open air and thus introduced the participants to the Institutsky part of Dubna. That same evening, VBLHEP leading researcher Sergey Merts, in complete darkness, gave a lecture on interesting facts from the world of particle physics and nuclear physics to the participants of the Conference.

On 1 November, the Cultural Centre "Mir" hosted a screening of the documentary film "Bruno Pontecorvo" directed by Ella Vlasova - about the life of one of the greatest physicists in Italy and the USSR, about the time he had devoted to work in Dubna. The audience was shown interviews with many of Bruno Maksimovich's contemporaries, his relatives and friends. The participants of the Conference saw archival footage from the DLNP site, where they came to watch it after the completion of the thematic sections. The Organizing Committee prepared English subtitles in advance, so the discussion of the film in different languages continued on the threshold of the Cultural Centre.

On 2 November, a gala dinner was held and interim results were summed up in an informal atmosphere. The relaxed atmosphere was promoted by the performance of the rock group "People on the Moon" that includes JINR staff members. Alexander Andreev commented on the performance: "As Scientific Secretary of BLTP, I am glad to host the Conference within our walls. This is a significant event that also expands every year: both the number of participants and the scope of the educational and scientific organizations they represent increase. And as a member of the "People on the Moon" group, I thank the organizers for giving our group the opportunity to perform for the participants of the Conference."

The next day, after the closing of the Conference, the participants were invited to take part in educational excursions around the JINR scientific complexes. Late in the evening, on the Volga embankment, the participants that had stayed in Dubna, together with DLNP employee Alexey Chetverikov, observed the planets and the Moon, photographed nebulae.

"This Conference took a step forward in the popularization of JINR and its recognition," Chairman of the AYSS Council Vladislav Rozhkov noted. "Much attention was paid to ensure that learning about the Institute within the framework of the Conference would lead current participants and, in the future, I hope, future JINR employees to write term and diploma papers here."

For many years, AYSS has been widely involved in cooperation with the world's leading universities and institutes, especially, in informing students, postgraduate students and young scientists about scientific schools and conferences held at JINR. The results of this work were noticeable in the record number of people wishing to take part in AYSS-2023.

Already at the registration stage for the Conference, great interest was shown on the part of young researchers: the Organizing Committee received 308 applications for participation and 274 abstracts of reports. Members of the Programme Committee from all laboratories of the Institute carefully and promptly reviewed all applications and selected reports that were of the greatest interest in a wide range of topics.

Members of the AYSS-2023 Organizing Committee noted that the success of the event would not have been possible without the enormous contribution of the Programme Committee and DLNP as a co-organizer of the Conference. Many JINR employees were involved as section and jury moderators; they assisted the Organizing Committee in meeting current issues. DLNP, VBLHEP, FLNP, FLNR and LRB contributed significantly to external participants of the Conference. MLIT provided with sound equipment and broadcasting of scientific sections of the Conference to JINR information centres. BLTP and DLNP provided convenient premises for the event. And employees of general Institute departments and the UC in particular, ensured uninterrupted document flow and paperwork for a large number of external participants, whose reception was a non-trivial task. The DLNP Scientific Communications Group, the JINR Department of Communications and Information Support and the UC Social Communications Group provided comprehensive information support. And although the Conference is traditionally associated with AYSS, the entire Institute worked as a single, well-coordinated mechanism.

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Reviews opinions impressions

Mikhail Malev (Tomsk State University):

"I came to Dubna for the first time, I have not yet had time to look around the city. I especially liked the plenary lecture by Alexander Bednyakov about the Standard Model, as well as the parallel section on high energy physics. To begin with, I decided to participate with a poster on the statistical mechanics of particles with constant helicity and already on the first day of the Conference I found a colleague with similar interests!"

Madelina-Mihaela Miloi (University of Bucharest, DLNP):

"I am proud of my colleagues that did a great job organizing this Conference and showed great hospitality! I really appreciate the dynamic atmosphere of this event, the fact that participants are encouraged to be active and even are awarded prizes for their interest. I noticed that the participants responded with just as much enthusiasm. I really hope that everyone will have pleasant memories!"

Pavel Kohout (Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic, FLNR):

"I think that the Conference is very well organized and the reports presented so far are at a very high level. I really liked the applied research section, where there were reports on the recycling of lithium-ion batteries, as well as the development of new materials for solar cells."

Diana Tolkacheva (FLP Belarusian State University):

"This is the first time in my life that I am participating in a Conference of this level. Most of all, I'm glad that there is a platform in Dubna where one has the opportunity to meet people from different countries. Very interesting events are organized at the Conference where you can also meet different people. I was at all the events. I especially liked the quest in a team with the participants from Armenia. It's fine that the organizers came up with a reward system for questions and I'm glad that I succeeded to win a sweatshirt for the best question at Dmitry Naumov's lecture on the theory of neutrino oscillations."

Anastasia Semenyuk (Irkutsk State University):

"This is my second time participating in this Conference and this year, there are many more participants, lectures and reports. There are also many more events that are not related to the Conference, such as "Lecture in the dark" by Sergey Merts and many others. I really like the system of being awarded prizes for asking questions, my colleagues and I are delighted, it really motivates us to pay attention to every lecture, every report. I was lucky enough to win a sweatshirt during a lecture about the Baikal-GVD experiment, it's very nice to take home such a unique souvenir."

Alexander Shemakhin (Kazan Federal University):

"This is my first time participating in AYSS and I think it's a pity that I haven't known about it before and how great it is that I took part this year! I am extremely pleased to see the wide range of scientific topics, interdisciplinary reports and delightful presentation of lectures. We were pleased with interesting excursions around the laboratories, nice gifts for questions and an extensive evening programme: posters, a quest, watching a movie, a bright party, observations through a telescope. And of course, aromatic coffee that helps you to stay in good shape before the next lecture after coffee breaks."

Sergey Merts (VBLHEP):

"Dear organizers, thank you! I participated in the AYSS conference from 2012 to 2015. I gave reports and even won a couple of times. It was a great time, I was a young scientist and the NICA complex had not yet started to be constructed. Today, I am already out of the category of young scientists, the collider is almost ready and times have become strange. But this year's Conference seemed to take me back and showed me what a great youth community you have gathered here!.. Comparing the Conference with previous "youth events" in which I participated, I can say that this is a top-level organization! It's even scary to imagine what a tremendous amount of work you did to organize all this. Thank you for your efforts and for the great Conference. Youth brings nations together!"

Rishav Pandey (larsen & Toubro Limited, India)

“FOR me, participation in the international scientific conference dedicated to the great physicist Bruno Pontecorvo was a truly amazing experience. It is a great example of how “Science brings people together.” All the lectures were amazing, I liked all the cultural events: pianist concert, poster session, quest , a Dark Matter Day celebration, a film about the life of Bruno Pontecorvo, and stargazing. Interacting in a diverse environment and learning about each country was wonderful. Must mention the sumptuous dinner and amazing performance by the rock group "Men on the Moon." Tours of the laboratories allowed I want to take a look at how things are going at JINR... I look forward to the opportunity to return once again to this “island of stability" with new research results. See you at the next conference. Long live JINR!"

Based on the information from the JINR Press Office, Dubna State University and AYSS
Galina MYALKOVSKAYA,
photo by Elena PUZYNINA