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START programme: results of the year

The International Student Programme STudent Advanced Research Training has been promoting the integration of young scientists into the scientific environment at the start of their careers for 12 years.

Within the framework of the last two sessions of 2025, 78 students from 12 countries of the world underwent internships at JINR. The largest number of participants (40 people) was represented by the universities of the Russian Federation. 12 people arrived from Egypt, from Cuba - 7, from Turkey and Uzbekistan - 4 each, from South Africa, Tunisia, Vietnam and Mexico - 2 each and from Belarus, Indonesia and Spain - a representative each. The students from Tunisia, Turkey, Indonesia and Spain participated in the programme for the first time. The 90 employees of the Joint Institute provided assistance and support in the work of the participants. Over the entire programme, 527 students from 31 states have taken part in it.

START shows high efficiency in developing long-term scientific cooperation and career trajectories. Some of the graduates of the programme currently cooperate with the researchers from JINR, prepare graduation papers on the basis of the Institute and later, become its employees. Statistically, every sixth participant subsequently joins the JINR staff. Thus, Ozoda Inoyatillo (Uzbekistan), a participant in the 2024 programme, was employed by the Sector of Calorimetric and Hardware-Software Systems for Processing and Analyzing Physical Information of DLNP JINR.

During the summer session, a student from the University of Tunis El Manar (UTM) Minyar Lauini, supervised by Ayagoz Baimukhanova (DLNP), worked on the Molecular Identification of Sponges by PCR and Electrophoresis, and Determination of Distribution Coefficients project. The results obtained allowed her to deliver a report at the International Conference AYSS-2025.

The mentee of Ekaterina Klevtsova from VBLHEP, a student of the Don State Technical University (DSTU) Anastasia Ponomareva, at the end of the START programme, again came to Dubna to participate in the International Baldin Seminar, at which she presented an oral report.

A student of the Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) Liana Sleptsova that underwent an internship under the supervision of Marina Frontasyeva (FLNP), took part in the International Student Conference. She presented a report on her investigation at JINR and independently prepared a scientific article for the collection of conference proceedings.

Following the summer session, the project leaders currently prepare 12 publications in collaboration with the programme participants. Among the co-authors are Sheima Ibrahim (Egypt), Lola Rizakulova and Fayzullo Kuyliev (Uzbekistan), Janine Milanes Losa America (Mexico), Ege Jan Karanfil (Turkey), as well as representatives of Russian universities: Matvey Vologzhin, Anastasia Ponomareva, Danila Arbuzov, Vladimir Gorev, Ksenia Gavrilenko, Fedor Baikov, Sergey Serga and Stepan Cherepanov.

At the end of the internship, three students continued their studies at the basic departments of JINR: Diana Volobueva entered the branch of Moscow State University in Dubna, Anastasia Semenova - to the magistracy of St. Petersburg State University and Anton Markov became a 4th year student at the Department of Particle Physics of the Physics Faculty of Moscow State University.

The START programme is an efficient tool for attracting and training promising young specialists for international scientific collaborations. For the winter session of 2026, 30 participants were selected that will arrive in Dubna in February.

Applications for the summer session will be open from 1 February to 3 March on the official website of the programme.

JINR Press Office