The 20th anniversary of the agreement between UNESCO and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) was celebrated on 14 February 2018 at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris with a debate on the current challenges in the basic sciences and preparation to the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements 2019.

The event was led by Douglas Nakashima (Director of UNESCO’s Division of Science Policy and Capacity-Building) and moderated by Martiale Zebaze Kana (Chief of UNESCO’s Section for Innovation and Capacity Building in Science and Engineering). The programme included contributions by Dr Grigory Trubnikov (Chairman of the Committee of Plenipotentiaries of JINR Member States and Deputy Minister, RF Ministry for Science and Education); Professor Yuri Oganissian (Leader of JINR’s Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions and after whom element 118 – oganesson – is named); Professor Mikhail Itkis (Vice Director of JINR); Professor Natalia Tarasova (Past President of IUPAC; chair of the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements 2019); Nicole Moreau (former President of IUPAP; chair of the International Year of Chemistry 2011; member of ICSU Council).

LAAAMP was present at this event, with Michele Zema (IUCr Executive Outreach Officer; Project Manager for the International Year of Crystallography 2014; member of LAAAMP Executive Committee) being a panelist at the round table on "Frontier Issues in the Basic Sciences". 

To know more about the event, read the article on the UNESCO web site.