Week of the Republic of South Africa in JINR
News, 02 October 2015
On Friday, September 25, 2015 in Dubna the Week of the Republic of South Africa in JINR dedicated to the 10th Anniversary of signing of the Cooperation Memorandum between the government of the Republic of South Africa and JINR was finished.
This event which took place within Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Institute, was aimed at further development of cooperation of scientists from the Republic of South Africa and JINR member states. 35 scientists from South Africa took part in activities of the Week as well as the 25 students and graduates, who participated in the annual practice, and also the delegation of Department on science and technologies of the Republic of South Africa headed by the Deputy Director general of the Department of Science and Technology Th. Auf der Heide.
On September 21, on the Opening Ceremony Prof. V.A. Matveev made a speech and outlined the main directions of development of the international cooperation of JINR and highlighted significant events in 10-year history of the Republic of South Africa membership. With the welcome message on behalf of Deputy Minister of Science and Education of Russia L.M.Ogorodova, Deputy Head of the Department of Science and Technologies Mr. D.P. Korotkov, made a speech. On the side of the RSA, Head of the delegation T. Auf der Heide and D. Adams made a review of scientific and technical priorities of the Republic of South Africa and presented the results of cooperation with JINR. During the Opening Ceremony there was the official welcome message from Special Representative of President of the Russian Federation for the Middle East and the Countries of Africa, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia M. L. Bogdanov, read to the audience. These messages set the constructive approach for all the activities of the South African Week in JINR.
The Programme of the Week contained of the 4th Symposium dedicated to joint projects of Republic of South Africa and JINR – "Few to many body-systems: Models, Methods and Applications", a meeting of the expert group aimed at summarizing the results of a scientific projects competition, the 15th meeting of the Coordination Committee on the Republic of South Africa – JINR collaboration, a joint JINR Seminar of Acting CEO of SKA (Square Kilometer Array) R. Adam. The delegation of DST of the Republic of South Africa took part in the 118th session of the JINR Scientific Council where two scientific reports from the Republic of South Africa, were submitted, one of which was devoted to the status and perspectives of the SKA project, and another – to participation of scientists from the Republic of South Africa in the NICA project. For South African guests the cultural and social programme was prepared, and also some time for discussions with scientific partners from JINR within joint projects was provided.
On September 25, during the final day of the Week of the Republic of South Africa in JINR, there was an official Closing of the students’ practice, which lasted for three weeks in Dubna. Diplomas to the South African students were handed by D. Adams. During the final round table the results on all sessions of the Symposium were summed up, conclusions of the 15th Coordination Committee of the Republic of South Africa and JINR were signed.
In the summarizing speech the representatives of the Republic of South Africa highlighted the following series of joint activities would take place in the South Africa: the large-scale Forum "10 years together" is planned for November 28 – December 3, 2016, the 16th session of Collaboration Committee will also take place in 2016 in the Republic of South Africa, and the 5th Joint Symposium of South African and JINR projects will be hosted by our South African colleagues at the end of 2018.