Russia’s Joint Institute of Nuclear Research (OIYaI – Obedinennii Institut Yadernikh Issledovanii) and the Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation of the Federal Republic of Brazil (MCTI – Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) strengthening co-operation in fundamental and applied scientific research.
The agreement envisages the establishment of a Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) at a high government level to establish a structured method of selecting and implementing collaborative projects, particularly those that involve using the large research infrastructure of OIYaI and Brazil to achieve the national goals of scientific and technological development of Brazil and OIYaI member states.
The signing of the memorandum was the result of ongoing joint work between the Institute and Brazilian scientific organisations. In February 2024 an MCTI delegation visited OIYaI, and in May 2024 OIYaI employees travelled to a number of scientific organisations and universities of Brazil. In 2024, cooperation agreements were signed with the National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN – Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear), the Federal University of Southern and the Federal University of Juiz de Fora. An agreement with the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul will be concluded this May. Representatives of Brazilian organizations are members of the JINR Advisory Bodies: the Scientific Council and the Programme Advisory Committee for Nuclear Physics.
OIYaI Director, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Grigory Trubnikov, emphasised that the Institute highly appreciates the established ties with relevant Brazilian agencies and sees great potential for joint work in using the large research infrastructure of both JINR and Brazil. He drew special attention to the importance of the agreement for developing long-standing scientific partnerships with Brazil. “The memorandum we signed is a decisive step on this path. The JCC and the Expert Working Group are crucial for forming a strong foundation for cooperation between researchers from Brazil and all OIYaI member states.
Brazil’s Minister of Science, Technology & Innovation, Luciana Barbosa de Oliveira Santos, expressed a wish to establish closer contact between OIYaI and Russia’s Ministry of Science and Higher Education with organisations subordinate to MICT: the Brazilian Centre for Research in Physics), the Brazilian Centre for Research in Energy and Materials, and the National Institute of Pure & Applied Mathematics.
The most promising areas for strengthening cooperation between JINR and Brazilian research laboratories and universities are:
- Theoretical physics (quantum field theory; the interface between QFT, cosmology, and general relativity; lattice quantum chromodynamics, theory of hadronic matter under extreme conditions, topological superconductivity, and theory of atomic nuclei);
- Nuclear physics (low energy nuclear reactions, nuclear structure and clusterisation in nuclei, and production cross sections of superheavy elements);
- Applied nuclear research (materials and life sciences, ecology, and radiobiology);
- Condensed matter physics (atomic and magnetic structure of novel materials and materials in extreme conditions, soft matter studies, and structural biophysics);
- Computing and IT (distributed data processing and machine learning for data analysis);
- Educational programmes (training and exchange of highly qualified personnel).
OIYaI, situated in Dubna city, is an international intergovernmental scientific research organisation established through the Convention signed in 1956 by 11 founding States and registered with the United Nations in 1957. The Institute was established with the aim of uniting the efforts, scientific and material potentials of its member states for investigations of the fundamental properties of matter.
OIYaI currently has 15 member states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cuba, Arab Republic of Egypt, Georgia, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Mongolia, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. Participation of Germany, Hungary, Italy, South Africa and Serbia in its activities is based on bilateral agreements signed on the governmental level.
