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JINR Science and Technology Council:
results of the first half of the year

On 5 July, a meeting of the JINR Science and Technology Council was held under the chairmanship of Elena Kolganova.

The members of the Science and Technology Council heard the report of JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov on the results of the Institute's activities for the first half of 2023, as well as considered the report on the activities of the Association of Young Scientists and Specialists. Notable scientific results have been obtained in the Institute's laboratories, the infrastructure is widely upgraded, the work of services is optimized and AYSS expands the range of activities and holds new events.

Giving an overview of the scientific results of the Institute, Grigory Trubnikov noted the relevance of the JINR scientific agenda against the background of the world landscape of physical research. "The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) has published a report with key areas in the field of nuclear physics until 2030. We see that all these areas are priorities for the Joint Institute as well. JINR develops and builds its scientific programme synchronously and coherently with the world's leading laboratories," Grigory Trubnikov highlighted.

An important result in the field of theoretical physics has been obtained. BLTP scientists have presented a new dynamical mechanism of incomplete nuclear fusion. The work of Dubna theorists on this subject was published in the prestigious journal Physics Letters B.

Extensive work is carried out within the framework of the NICA megascience project. General construction work is almost completed and the construction of the collider building is being completed. The attention of the project participants is focused on the completion of equipment deliveries. During the longest commissioning session in the history of the complex, the BM@N experiment has started its physical programme, having accumulated more than half a billion events. For the first time, MLIT's computational infrastructure was used to reconstruct the raw experimental data from this experiment. A paper analysing them has been submitted to the prestigious journal JHEP. The ARIADNA applied research programme at NICA has started.

Experiments at DLNP are carried out at the Superheavy Element Factory. New isotopes have been produced and for the first time the laboratory team has obtained the isotope ²⁷³Ds in both cold and hot fusion reactions. Installation of the new accelerator DC-140 and construction of the accelerator's experimental hall for applied research U-400P are underway.

During the Baikal Expedition 2023, the Baikal-GVD collaboration installed two new clusters of optical modules. Today, 12 clusters of the neutrino telescope will allow to capture about 10 neutrinos of galactic and extragalactic origin per year. Preparations for the commissioning of the Laboratory's new core facility LINAK-200 linear accelerator are well carried out at DLNP.

The maintenance of the IBR-2 research reactor is underway and it is scheduled to resume operation in autumn 2024 after obtaining a licence from Rostekhnadzor. LRB specialists study cytogenetic and behavioural disorders in monkeys in remote periods after irradiation with accelerated heavy ions. At MLIT, the GPU component of the Govorun supercomputer has been expanded by five new servers with eight GPUs each. It provides new opportunities for meeting machine learning and deep learning tasks. Together with the Department for Development of Digital Services, work on expanding the functionality of the JINR digital ecosystem is currently carried out.

In his report, Director of the Institute touched upon personnel issues, noting that about 1200 staff members of JINR services will be recertified this autumn. Important work has been carried out to synchronise the activities of the Institute's financial services and self-financing subdivisions. The Department of Scientific and Organisational Activities develops a new architecture of the Topical Plan of JINR that gives a transparent representation of the structure of the Institute's scientific projects.

Much attention is paid to the development of the property complex. Expenses of the JINR Hotel and Restaurant Complex have been optimized. The premises of the JINR University Centre and the Publishing Department have been renovated. Large-scale repair work is in progress in the JINR Conference Hall and the Sports Club. The canteens of DLNP and VBLHEP will be modernized and the Dubna Restaurant will be overhauled that will take about a year. Repair and improvement of the Hotel Dubna in Alushta is underway. A development plan for the Ratmino Rest House has been approved, where the evaluation of the state of engineering networks has already started. The main electrical substation at VBLHEP site has been modernised and the substation at the DLNP site is under reconstruction. At the same time, support is provided to the city's social infrastructure facilities, including the Medical Unit No. 9, where 10 new departments and an advanced vascular centre have been opened.

Another major infrastructure project is the renovation of the pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle checkpoints at the DLNP site. It is expected that the pedestrian and bicycle checkpoints will start working as early as September this year and by the end of the year the repair of the motorway access to the site will be completed, it will become two-lane. The repair of engineering networks at the VBLHEP checkpoint has been carried out that has become a preparatory step for the organization of a car park for more than 200 cars for the laboratory staff.

Grigory Trubnikov told the participants of the meeting about the work of the JINR UC and the branch of MSU opened in Dubna, as well as about the popularization of JINR activities. In the area of international cooperation, the first practical steps have been made in the implementation of the signed memoranda with new partners - China and Mexico. In the near future, a number of exact projects are being prepared for consideration by the JINR-China and JINR-Mexico Joint Coordinating Committees. Scientific relations with India and Brazil currently develop.

The STC meeting was continued with a report by Vladislav Rozhkov, Chairman of the Association of Young Scientists and Specialists that currently includes more than 1000 young employees under the age of 36. In addition to regular events, the Association organised the first school on accelerator physics and technology. The organisers hope to make it an annual event and there is already an application from FLNR to hold a similar school on cyclotrons next year. A number of new regular meetings have been organised: JINR seminars, JINR film club and others.

An important point in the report of the AYSS Chairman was the updating of the Regulations on the JINR Youth Prizes and the AYSS Regulations. It was necessary to update and optimise the procedure for holding the competition of annual JINR prizes for young scientists and specialists for the best scientific and applied papers. This is due to the increase in the number of AYSS scientific conferences that are independent stages of selection of the best papers. Besides, there is no separate nomination of the competition for young employees of JINR services. It is necessary to change the source of funding of the prizes and increase their size.

For efficient further functioning of the Association it is necessary to update the AYSS Regulations. Among the amendments it is expected to increase the age of the members of the Association up to 35 years inclusive, to remove restrictions on the number of the members of the AYSS Council, to optimize the voting procedure.

In addition, a proposal was made to introduce a unified form for submitting applications for external competitions for young JINR scientists.

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