MEPhI Rector Vladimir Shevchenko and President of the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" Mikhail Kovalchuk on March 18 signed an agreement on cooperation in priority areas of science and technology. The document, among other things, provides for the study of the issue of creating a branch of MEPhI in the city of Protvino, Moscow Region.

According to the agreement, MEPhI and the Kurchatov Institute will work together on the implementation of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Synchrotron and Neutron Research and Research Infrastructure for 2019-2027 and the comprehensive program “Development of Engineering, Technology and Scientific Research in the Field of the Use of Atomic Energy in the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2024”.

“The Kurchatov Institute is the largest scientific organization in Russia and a long-term institutional partner of MEPhI, and hundreds of university graduates are successfully working at various sites of the center,” said Vladimir Shevchenko.

“Today, the Kurchatov Institute not only acts as a scientific coordinator for many major federal scientific and technical projects, but also offers ambitious plans for regional development, in particular, in the science cities of Protvino and Obninsk. All these tasks require the training of highly qualified personnel. MEPhI, one of the leaders in Russian technical and, especially, nuclear education, has an extensive branch network and is actively working on the introduction of individual educational trajectories, including in network formats. The agreement signed today outlines the directions and formats of our mutually beneficial partnership, and I am sure that it will serve as a reliable foundation for our work on joint scientific and educational projects for many years to come,” he said.

The cooperation program will include joint scientific research and work on joint innovative projects, student internships, joint scientific events, joint training of highly qualified personnel in the field of research and development.

Also, MEPhI and the Kurchatov Institute will jointly develop and implement educational programs for general, additional and higher education, advanced training programs for teachers, teachers of additional education and young scientists in the field of natural and engineering sciences.

Employees of MEPhI and the Kurchatov Institute will have access to the research infrastructure facilities of both organizations.

The agreement provides for the study of the issue of establishing a branch of MEPhI in the city of Protvino, Moscow Region. It is also planned to create a center for general and additional education of children for in-depth study of academic subjects, courses, disciplines (modules) in the field of natural and engineering sciences.

Cooperation will be carried out in the following areas of science and technology development:

• fundamental research in the field of nuclear physics, particle physics, neutrino physics, high energy physics;
• nuclear and renewable energy;
• plasma technologies and thermonuclear fusion;
• new materials and technologies (including nanomaterials and nanotechnologies, radiation materials, superconductors, etc.);
• electronics and electronic engineering;
• biotechnology;
• nuclear medicine;
• nano-, bio-, info-, cognitive and socio-humanitarian and nature-like technologies;
• research using "megascience" class installations;
• information and telecommunication technologies.