On 15 September 2025, the 26th international Baldin seminar on high energy physics problems entitled “Relativistic Nuclear Physics and Quantum Chromodynamics” started at the Laboratory of High Energy Physics at JINR. The event gathered 240 scientists and specialists from Russia, Belarus, China, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Serbia, and Vietnam.

Institute’s Scientific Leader, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Victor Matveev addressed the participants with a welcome speech. He stressed that the seminar gains popularity each year and attracts a significant number of young scientists. Victor Matveev told the audience about the history of the Baldin seminar and paid tribute to the memory of its founder: “Undoubtedly, thanks to Aleksandr Mikhailovich, his colleagues and close associates, Dubna can rightfully be considered the birthplace of relativistic nuclear physics”. In addition, he said that next year the Institute will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Academician Baldin, and in honour of this event, his bust will be installed on the territory of VBLHEP.

JINR Vice-Director, RAS Academician Vladimir Kekelidze spoke at the opening of the seminar: “Relativistic nuclear physics has existed for more than 55 years. Among the modern projects in this field is NICA, one of the flagship projects of our Institute. This facility, created with the participation of you, your colleagues and friends, will pave the way for cutting-edge research in relativistic nuclear physics”.

The event started with the “Heavy ions in science and technology” presentation by Scientific Leader of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions at JINR, RAS Academician Yuri Oganessian. In addition, the seminar will feature talks on the results of major international collaborations such as MPD and BM@N and reviews of achievements in theoretical and experimental relativistic nuclear physics.

The 26th Baldin Seminar covers a wide range of topics:

• quantum chromodynamics at large distances;
• relativistic heavy ion collisions;
• spectroscopy of hadrons and multiquarks;
• structural functions of hadrons and nuclei;
• polarisation phenomena and spin physics;
• studies of exotic nuclei in relativistic beams;
• applied use of relativistic beams.

In addition, the participants will discuss the results of the NICA Megascience Project, the progress and development prospects of accelerator complexes, along with achievements in experimental research at the world’s leading centres for the study of high energy physics – JINR, CERN, BNL, JLab, GSI, KEK, and others.