Youth and science

Daily work and engagement in the common case

On 27 March, the general meeting of the Association of Young Scientists and Specialists of JINR was held. On the agenda: the report of AYSS Chairman on the work carried out, the elections of the Council for the next year, answers to questions from the participants.

The current Chairman of the AYSS, a junior researcher at LRB Regina Kozhina made a report on the work during her tenure 2025-2026. She emphasized that the focus was on maintaining a high level of organization and participation in traditional events: AYSS and Alushta Conferences, Lipnya School, School of Accelerator Physics, AYSS seminars. Also, the most important tasks were to amend the AYSS Regulations and the Regulations on Grants for young scientists and JINR specialists.

The Conference "Alushta-25" was attended by 56 participants from 11 countries, this is a record number of foreign participants. A meeting was held with the Council of Young Scientists of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden, cooperation was established on the exchange of information about scientific events. A new format of leisure was introduced - events dedicated to learning about the culture of the Member States. This aroused great interest of the participants, so further development of the format is scheduled.

The AYSS-2025 Conference brought together 175 participants from 11 countries, 42 research organizations and 7 JINR Laboratories. According to Chairman of the AYSS, a stable situation has developed here, when the number of participants from other research institutes is greater than from JINR. Regina Kozhina emphasized that this is an important working area, since it helps to expand the horizons of knowledge and acquaintances. Chairman also highlighted that every year, the Conference acquires scientific level and the number and quality of reports increases. Selection becomes more difficult because the Conference is limited to five working days.

Afterwards, the speaker emphasized several significant events. The AYSS team took part in the autumn "Nuclear Festival" and won the Nuclear Cup for the first time. The experience of participating in competitions in fire-applied sports rallied the team and allowed everyone to get to know each other better. On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, AYSS organized a trip to the Patriot Park. Regina Kozhina said that visiting museum sites and an excursion aroused the interest of not only employees from Russia, but also employees of the Member States.

JINR delegation took part in the 5th Congress of Young Scientists that was held on the federal territory of Sirius. The President of the Council called the event useful for presenting science outside the Institute. Also, a delegation of JINR young scientists attended the 13th All-Russian Congress of Councils of Young Scientists and Student Scientific Societies "From the Depths of Traditions to the Heights of Technology" in Ufa.

In November 2025, the 100th AYSS anniversary seminar was held, at which Director of the Institute Grigory Trubnikov made a report "Future experiments in the field of high energy physics". The seminar was a great success, there were more listeners than seats in the hall.

Regina Kozhina expressed gratitude to all the ideological inspirers and organizers that started and continue the tradition of regular seminars. AYSS considers them one of the most successful projects. For the third year, the event brings together many listeners and interesting speakers. Looking ahead, Chairman said that from 15 April, a series of seminars "Young scientists - young doctors" will be held at the Scientists’ Club. Within a month, research papers from young specialists of the Medical Unit No. 9 will be presented in order to find cooperation with young scientists of JINR. The AYSS Council, having previously studied these projects, concluded that the work has research potential and will be of interest to JINR Laboratories.

One of the objectives of the past year was to increase the awareness of AYSS members about scientific events taking place in JINR Member States. Speaking about information support, the Chairman of the Council said that AYSS Internet channels have more than 1000 subscribers. It is also expected that in a month, the official website will function.

R. Kozhina attributed to the completed tasks such as supporting interest clubs and assisting in the establishment of new ones; participation in events dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Institute; promoting youth initiatives; work on changing the Regulations on grants for young scientists and specialists.

The plan for the next year included the same tasks: holding traditional AYSS events; development of interest clubs; completion of work on change of AYSS position; promoting youth initiatives.

At the end of the report, Regina Kozhina once again expressed gratitude to the team for their daily work and involvement in the common cause.

Head of the Human Resources and Records Management Department Alexander Verkheev asked several organizational questions about the AYSS Conference that will be held in 2026 in Tashkent in two languages: Russian and English. He emphasized the importance of maintaining the tradition of speaking in English. He also expressed his wish, due to the demand and increase of the Conference level, not to lose a niche at AYSS for the performance of young people that currently gain experience.

Head of SIM Office Andrey Tamonov thanked the team members for their work during the year. He stated that the active work of the AYSS is noticeable and asked about the possibility of expanding the membership of the Council to include employees from the Member States. Chairman R. Kozhina replied that the Council is open to everyone, but due to the large number of organizational activities that have to be carried out, including outside the Institute and only in Russian, it makes certain difficulties. However, if members of the Association have a desire to take part in organizing an event, they can write to the ayss@jinr.ru or contact any member of the Council personally.

DLNP researcher Vladislav Rozhkov expressed his understanding of the difficult organizational work. A personal question was asked for Regina: what was the most difficult? She replied - to rebuild her life routine so that everything is in time.

JINR Assistant Chief Engineer Evgeny Uglov shared his concern that AYSS could become just a cultural club, while the organization has always had many tasks of particular assistance to young scientists, including support in housing programmes. He asked the question: are such activities underway? R. Kozhina replied that of course, AYSS continues to defend the interests of young scientists and specialists in various fields. The Council studies subsidy programmes and housing opportunities, provides organizational and documentary assistance.

At the end of the meeting, voting for the post of chairman of the AYSS 2026-2027 started. It took place online at all available sites from 27 March to 29 March. As a result of the vote, Regina Kozhina was elected Chairman and the new membership of the AYSS Council was approved. It included: Konstantin Timoshenko (FLNR) - Deputy Chairman, Veronika Smirnova (FLNP) - Secretary of the Council, Daria Shamina (LRB), Alfiya Mukhaeva (BLTP), Artyom Bystryakov DLNP), Alexey Konak (MLIT), Elizaveta Konstantinova (VBLHEP), Grigory Gelenidze (JINR Services).

Maria KARPOVA