Meridians of cooperation

JINR-RSA Joint Coordination Committee
took place in Cape Town

A delegation of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research headed by Director Grigory Trubnikov participated in the 23rd meeting of the JINR-RSA Joint Coordination Committee held at the NRF: iThemba LABS (iTL), the accelerator centre of South Africa.

The meeting was part of a wide range of events in South Africa with the JINR participation that took place in the second week of December. These included the Second International African Symposium on Exotic Nuclei (IASEN-2024), the opening of the first JINR Information Centre in the Southern Hemisphere at the iTL Cyclotron Laboratory, and a seminar aimed at attracting young people to research with the participation of other JINR Information Centres. In addition, working meetings on joint projects and visits to the Western Cape universities took place. A workshop preceding the Committee meeting focused on discussing the implementation of accelerator technology and radiobiology projects.

The meeting’s extensive agenda was devoted to strategic issues of further cooperation development, analysis of the execution and financing of current projects, organization of competitions for new projects, and a rich joint event plan. Deputy CEO of the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) Angus Paterson co-chaired the meeting of the Committee from the South African side.

JINR was represented by Director of the JINR University Centre Dmitry Kamanin, Director of the Laboratory of Radiation Biology Aleksander Bugay, Institute’s Deputy Chief Scientific Secretary Alexey Zhemchugov, Deputy Director of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions Grzegorz Kaminski, Deputy Director of the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics Nikolai Antonenko, Deputy Chief Engineer of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions Semen Mitrofanov, and Head of the South African National Group at JINR Arnoux Rossouw. A specialist of the Protocol Group of the JINR International Cooperation Department Margarita Khvedelidze was the Secretary of the Committee.

The Committee members expressed satisfaction with the current results of the work and highlighted the increasing number of joint projects and collaborating scientists and organizations. Special attention was paid to new cooperation areas.

The parties discussed a programme of events aimed at strengthening the partnership further and celebrating the 20th anniversary of South Africa’s associate membership in JINR and the 70th anniversary of the Institute’s founding. In particular, the Committee decided to hold a series of events as part of the JINR Days on 15-19 June 2025. Speaking of the near future, the Committee approved JINR’s active participation in another summer physics school, annually organized by the Southern African Institute for Nuclear Technology and Sciences (SAINTS), an iTL educational unit.

Based on the information from the JINR Press Office