122nd session of the Scientific Council

1. Information on the Resolution of the 122nd session of the JINR Scientific Council (September 2017) and on the decisions of the JINR Committee of Plenipotentiaries (November 2017)  48th meeting, PAC for Particle Physics 

2. 122nd session of the Scientific Council The 122nd session of the JINR SC took place on 18–19 September 2017. It was chaired by JINR Director V. Matveev and co-chaired by Professor M. Waligórski (INP, Kraków, Poland).

3. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilAgenda • Director’s report (V. Matveev) • Progress reports: SHE Factory (S. Dmitriev), NICA (V. Kekelidze) • Scientific reports: “The quest for phase transitions in strongly interacting matter” (A. Rustamov), “Probing dense matter at NICA energies with dileptons: prospects and challenges” (I. Tserruya) • Recommendations of the PACs (I. Tserruya, M. Lewitowicz, D. L.Nagy) • Memberships of the PACs (M. Itkis) • Reports by young scientists as recommended by the PACs (D. Janseitov, K. Belokopytova) • Awards and prizes • Election of the Director of BLTP and announcement of vacancies of positions in the directorates of JINR Laboratories

4. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilRESOLUTION General considerations The SC took note of the comprehensive report by JINR Director V. Matveev, presenting an in-depth analysis of the role and place of JINR in the world’s fundamental nuclear physics science and covering the decisions of the latest session of the JINR Committee of Plenipotentiaries (March 2017), the progress in implementing the JINR scientific programme in the first, starting year of the new seven-year plan, and major events in the activities of JINR and its international cooperation. The SC was pleased to note the important strategic plans for JINR to achieve new scientific and technological results of high significance in 2017–2023, in particular, in the process of realizing and launching the NICA megaproject and the Factory of Superheavy Elements (SHE), and in expanding the spectrometer complex of the IBR-2 reactor and the User Programme at this facility. The SC highly appreciated the efforts undertaken by the JINR Directorate towards developing the Institute’s research infrastructure and integrating it into the European scientific landscape. It noted, in particular, the inclusion, in 2017, of the NICA accelerator complex and the SHE Factory in the NuPECC long-range plan “Perspectives in Nuclear Physics”.

5. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilRESOLUTION General considerations The SC congratulated JINR on the inauguration of the names of the new superheavy elements moscovium, tennessine and oganesson synthesized at the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, which was held in Moscow on 2 March 2017. The SC welcomed the signing of the new Agreement on cooperation between JINR and INFN, which took place in Moscow on 12 April 2017 in the presence of the President of the Italian Republic, S. Mattarella. The SC emphasized the importance of the elaboration of JINR’s new strategic plan based on long-term future of the JINR Laboratories and wished to be informed about the strategic planning process and timeline.

6. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilRESOLUTION General considerations The SC took note of the appointment of A. Sorin as Chief Scientific Secretary and B. Gikal as Chief Engineer of JINR. The Scientific Council thanked their predecessors, N. Russakovich and G. Shirkov, for their long-term successful work.

7. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilRESOLUTION General considerations The SC was pleased to learn of the appointment of G. Trubnikov, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, as Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Russian Federation to JINR and wished him successful work in these two responsible positions.

8. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilRESOLUTION General considerations The SC appreciated the new brochures on JINR’s activities and facilities recently published and distributed at the session and encouraged further efforts to enhance the international visibility of JINR’s science and communications.

9. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilRESOLUTION Recommendations on the SHE Factory The SC took note of the report by FLNR Director S. Dmitriev “Status of the Factory of Superheavy Elements and its future prospects”. Given the high priority of the research work on the synthesis of superheavy elements and study of their properties, the SC recommended that the JINR and FLNR Directorates ensure the implementation of programmes on the further development of the SHE Factory (construction of new and upgrade of the existing physics instruments for the studies of chemical and nuclear properties of superheavy elements).

10. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilRESOLUTION Recommendations on the NICA project The SC took note of the report by VBLHEP Director V. Kekelidze “Progress of the NICA project”. The SC noted with satisfaction the very good progress in implementing this flagship project of JINR which has been recognized as an important element of the European research infrastructure. The SC appreciated the successful development of the Nuclotron-NICA accelerator complex, including: – the recent production of polarized proton beams with the new source of polarized particles; – the ongoing construction of the Booster, for which the electron cooling system was manufactured by the Budker INP (Novosibirsk) and delivered to JINR, – and with the progress of civil construction for the collider. A large amount of work is being done by the BM@N and MPD collaborations to develop the detectors and their subsystems; efforts have been undertaken to enhance these collaborations by new participants.

11. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilRESOLUTION Recommendations on the NICA project On the whole, the SC commended the dynamic progress of the NICA project, encouraged further expansion of the international collaborations around the planned experiments and expressed hope that the challenging work for the NICA complex would be successfully continued.

12. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilRESOLUTION Recommendations in connection with the PACs The SC took note of the recommendations made by the PACs at their meetings in June 2017 as reported at this session by I. Tserruya, Chairman of the PAC for Particle Physics, M. Lewitowicz, Chairman of the PAC for Nuclear Physics, and D. L. Nagy, member of the PAC for Condensed Matter Physics. The SC proposed that the JINR Directorate should take these recommendations into account in preparing the JINR Topical Plan of Research and International Cooperation for 2018. These recommendations are documented in detail in the PAC minutes.

13. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilRESOLUTION Memberships of the PACs As proposed by the JINR Directorate, the SC appointed D. L. Nagy (Wigner RCP, Budapest, Hungary) as Chairman of the PAC for Condensed Matter Physics and P. Mikula (INP, Řež, Czech Republic) as a new member of this PAC, each for a term of three years. The SC also appointed Luciano Musa (CERN, Geneva, Switzerland) as a new member of the PAC for Particle Physics for a term of three years.

14. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilRESOLUTION Scientific reports by young scientists The SC appreciated the following reports by young scientists, which were recommended by the PACs for presentation at this session: – “Investigation of exotic states in light nuclei”, – “Neurochemical alterations in central nervous system of rodents after exposure to different radiation modalities”. The SC thanked the speakers: D. Janseitov(BLTP) and K. Belokopytova(LRB), welcoming similar reports in the future.

15. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilRESOLUTION Awards and prizes The SC congratulated Professors Yifang Wang (IHEP, Beijing, China), Soo-Bong Kim (Seoul National University, Korea) and Koichiro Nishikawa (KEK, Tsukuba, Japan) on the award of the B. Pontecorvo Prize for their outstanding contributions to the study of the neutrino oscillation phenomenon and to the measurement of the θ13 mixing angle in the Daya Bay, RENO and T2K experiments. The SC thanked them for their excellent presentations.

16. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilRESOLUTION Awards and prizes The SC congratulated the winners of JINR annual prizes for best papers in the fields of scientific research, instruments and methods, and applied research.

17. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilRESOLUTION Elections and announcement of vacancies in the directorates of JINR Laboratories The SC elected D. Kazakov as Director of the Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics (BLTP) for a term of five yearsand thanked V. Voronov for his successful tenure as Director of this Laboratory.

18. 122nd session of the Scientific CouncilRESOLUTION Elections and announcement of vacancies in the directorates of JINR Laboratories The SC announced the vacancies of positions of Deputy Directors of BLTP. The endorsement of appointments of the Deputy Directors will be held at the 123rd session of the SC in February 2018. The SC announced the vacancies of positions of the Director of the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems and of the Director of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions. The elections will take place at the 124th session of the SC in September 2018.

19. Session of the JINR Committee of Plenipotentiaries (CP) A regular session of the CP of the Governments of the JINR Member States was held in Dubna on 24–25 November 2017. It was chaired by the Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation, G. Trubnikov.

20. CP Session (November 2017)Agenda • Recommendations of the 122nd session of the JINR SC (September 2017). Brief overview of the results of JINR activities in 2017 and plans for 2018 (V. Matveev) • Draft budget of JINR for the year 2018, draft contributions of the Member States for the years 2019, 2020, and 2021 (S. Dotsenko) • Progress of implementing the NICA complex project and proposals for spending the special-purpose funds allocated by the Russian Federation in accordance with the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and JINR, dated 2 June 2016 (V. Kekelidze, R. Lednický) • Results of the meeting of the JINR Finance Committee held on 21–22 November 2017 (A. Khvedelidze) • Information from the JINR delegations about the meeting at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and about the workshop at the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan (M. Itkis) • Results of the audit of the JINR financial activities for the year 2015 (D. Korsakov)

21. CP Session (November 2017)Agenda • Improvement of the procurement activities of JINR (R. Lednický) • Amendment proposed to the Rules of procedure of the JINR Scientific Council (A. Sorin) • JINR’s participation in the Russian Federation’s targeted research programme within the framework of international cooperation with institutions of the People’s Republic of China (H. Khodzhibagiyan) • Status of the Factory of Superheavy Elements (S. Dmitriev)

22. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS Director’s report Concerning the report presented by JINR Director V. Matveev, the CP took note of the recommendations of the 122nd session of the JINR SC, of the information by the JINR Directorate on implementation of the JINR Plan of Research and International Cooperation in 2017 –– the first, starting year of the new Seven-year plan for the development of JINR as well as on the priorities of JINR activities for 2018.

23. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS Director’s report The CP approved the recommendations of the 121st and 122nd sessions of the SC and the JINR Topical Plan of Research and International Cooperation for 2018. The CP noted the importance for JINR to elaborate a new strategic plan for the long-term development of the JINR Laboratories and request the JINR Directorate to present regular information on the work in this direction. The CP took note of the initiative of the JINR Directorate and the Republic of Poland about intentions to jointly establish a Laboratory for Structural Research of Macromolecules and New Materials at the SOLARIS National Synchrotron Radiation Centre of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Poland) and commissioned the Directorate to continue this work.

24. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS Director’s report The CP commissioned the JINR Directorate to organize an open international competition in 2018 for researchers and postgraduates to fill vacancies of positions in JINR’s priority scientific projects. The CP recommended that the JINR Directorate organize a special-purpose grant programme in 2018 to stimulate the participation of scientists of the Member States and other countries in the implementation of the NICA project. The CP welcomed the decision taken by the Government of the Russian Federation on 23 August 2017, according to which JINR has received the right to confer academic degree, and suggested that the Plenipotentiaries should facilitate the procedure of recognizing JINR’s degree diplomas in the Member States. The CP accepted the proposals of the JINR Directorate to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the accession to the Institute of a group of independent states by holding a festive meeting dedicated to this event on 26 March 2018.

25. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS Financial issues Concerning the report “Draft budget of JINR for the year 2018, draft contributions of the Member States for the years 2019, 2020, and 2021” presented S. Dotsenko,Chief Accountant of JINR, the Committee of Plenipotentiaries: – approved the JINR budget for the year 2018 with the total expenditure amounting to US$207.24 million and the scale of contributions of the Member States for this year; – approved the contributions of the Member States for 2018 and the payment of contribution arrears of the Member States for this year;

26. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS Financial issues – determined the provisional volumes of the JINR budget in income and expenditure for the year 2019 amounting to US$205.68 million, for the year 2020 amounting to US$208.57 million, for the year 2021 amounting to US$212.58 million as well as the provisional amounts of the Member States’ contributions for the years 2019, 2020, and 2021; – allowed the JINR Directorate to index the salary and tariff parts of the compensation package of the staff members, taking into account the possibilities afforded by the JINR budget in 2018, in accordance with the JINR Collective Bargaining Agreement for 2017–2020.

27. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS Financial issues Concerning the report “Progress of implementing the NICA complex project and proposals for spending the special-purpose funds allocated by the Russian Federation in accordance with the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and JINR on the construction and exploitation of the NICA complex, dated 2 June 2016” presented by V. Kekelidze, Director of VBLHEP, and R. Lednický, Vice-Director of JINR, the CP:

28. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS Financial issues – took note of the progress in implementing the project of the NICA complex in accordance with the Seven-year plan for the development of JINR for 2017–2023 and with the aforesaid Agreement, and recognized the scientific and technological achievements in this project; – approved, for the year 2018, the JINR budget for the use of the special-purpose funds of the Russian Federation, allocated in accordance with the Agreement, in the amount of 5 400.0 million rubles; – adopted the provisional volume of the JINR budget for the use of the special-purpose funds of the Russian Federation, for the year 2019 with the total expenditure of 1 500.0 million rubles and for the year 2020 with the total expenditure of 970.0 million rubles;

29. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS Financial issues The CP noted that in 2013–2015, prior to the signing of the Agreement, work was performed on a number of objects of the basic configuration of the NICA complex in the amount of 2 800.0 million rubles using budgetary funds of JINR and those of other countries. In view of the forthcoming discussion of the preliminary results and immediate plans for implementing the Agreement at the meeting of the Supervisory Board of the NICA complex project, the CP stated that it fully guarantees implementation of JINR’s obligations stipulated by the Agreement.

30. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS Financial issues Concerning the report “Results of the meeting of the JINR Finance Committee held on 21–22 November 2017” presented by A. Khvedelidze, Plenipotentiary of Georgia to JINR, the CP: – approved the Protocol of the meeting of the Finance Committee held on 21–22 November 2017; – approved the Rules of procedure of the CP of the Governments of the Member States of JINR and the Rules of procedure of the Finance Committee of JINR; – commissioned the JINR Directorate to prepare a draft road map for the work on the Regulation for the JINR staff and forward it to the members of the Working Group under the CP Chairman for JINR Financial Issues by 1 February 2018.

31. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS Official meetings in Ukraine and in Uzbekistan Concerning the “Information from the JINR delegations about the meeting at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and about the workshop at the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan” presented by M. Itkis, Vice-Director of JINR, the CP: – recommended that the JINR Directorate should continue work on the implementation of a mutually acceptable model of cooperation between JINR and Ukraine; – recommended that note should be taken of the information on the negotiations of the JINR representatives with high officials of the Republic of Uzbekistan on measures to restore the activities of the Republic of Uzbekistan in JINR.

32. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS International cooperation Concerning the report “JINR’s participation in the Russian targeted research programme within the framework of international cooperation with institutions of the People’s Republic of China” presented by H. Khodzhibagiyan, Deputy Director for Science of VBLHEP, the CP expresseditsconsenttoJINR’s participationinthecompetitionoftheMinistryofEducationandScienceoftheRussianFederationonActivity 2.1, Priority 1 “ConductingstudiesonselectedpriorityareasinvolvingresearchorganizationsanduniversitiesinChina”withintheframeworkoftheFederaltargetedprogramme “R&D inthepriorityareasofadvancementoftheRussianscientificandtechnologicalcomplexfor 2014–2020” inthefollowingactivities: 1. Development of linear superconducting accelerators for the NICA and HIAF accelerator complexes. 2. Research for the preparation of a technical proposal for a 1 MJ energy storage device made of HTSC material for the NICA project. 3. Production of a pilot batch of modules for the electromagnetic calorimeter of the Multipurpose Detector (MPD) at the NICA collider. 4. Development of stochastic cooling systems for the NICA and HIAF accelerator complexes.

33. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS Factory of Superheavy Elements Concerning the report “Status of the Factory of Superheavy Elements” presented by S. Dmitriev, Director of FLNR, the CP noted that Phase 1 of construction of the Factory of Superheavy Elements (SHE) has entered its final stage. The civil construction work and installation of the DC-280 cyclotron are planned to be completed in late December 2017, the start-up and adjustment work for the cyclotron and engineering systems of the building –– in January–April 2018, the start-up of the new gas-filled recoil separator –– in June–July 2018, the preparation and performance of first experiments –– in September–November 2018. The Committee recommended that the JINR Directorate take all necessary measures to ensure the implementation of the scheduled plan for the start-up and commissioning of the SHE Factory (experimental building, DC-280 cyclotron, and new gas-filled recoil separator).

34. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS Other issues Concerning the report “Improvement of the procurement activities of JINR” presented by R. Lednický, Vice-Director of JINR, the Committee of Plenipotentiaries: – approved the actions of the JINR Directorate towards improving the procurement activities of JINR;. – noted the importance of conducting effective procurement procedures taking into account the volumes of funding the Institute.

35. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS Other issues Concerning the report “Amendment proposed to the Rules of procedure of the JINR Scientific Council” presented by A. Sorin, Chief Scientific Secretary of JINR, the CP: – allowed the endorsement of appointments of Deputy Directors of the Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics to be held at the 123rd session of the Scientific Council (22–23 February 2018). – approved the following amendment to the current Rules of procedure of the SC of JINR : “The announcement of a vacancy for the position of a Laboratory Deputy Director is made by the SC with subsequent endorsement of the appointment to this position at the session following the session which announced the vacancy”.

36. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS Congratulations The CP congratulated Academician V. Matveev, Director of JINR, on having been awarded the Order of the Russian Federation “For Merit to the Fatherland, III class” and the Order of Merit of the French Republic.  

37. CP Session (November 2017)DECISIONS Congratulations The Committee also congratulates Academician Yu. Oganessian, Scientific Leader of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, on having been awarded the Order of the Russian Federation “For Merit to the Fatherland, II class.”

38. Thank you for your attention.