Lipnya-2022: it was interesting!

On 15-17 July, the 26th Summer School for Young Scientists and Specialists Lipnya-2022 was held at the Tourist Base "Lipnya" on the Lipnya island in the Ivankovskoe reservoir. It brought together the youth of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and other enterprises of the city of Dubna: PJSC "Instrument Plant "TENZOR", JSC "EDB "Aerospace Systems", JSC "SPA "KRYPTEN" and others. The scientific event was organised by the Association of Young Scientists and Specialists of JINR. The Organising Committee of the School included T.N.Zaikina, V.V.Lenivenko, A.Yu.Nezvanov, A.V.Rybakova, R.V.Sotensky, N.A.Fedorov, K.Khramko.

This year the School was dedicated to the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development and the Decade of Science and Technology in Russia. The number of those wishing to take part in the School this year broke the records of previous years. The Organising Committee received about a hundred applications, of which only half of the participants were selected. Most of them settled in a comfortable house on the territory of the tourist base and some preferred to spend the night in tents on the shore of the island. The most creative participants decorated their tents with portable garlands that glowed with multi-colored lights in the evening.

A full scientific and entertainment program was prepared for the participants of the School. On Friday, the School started with lectures by A.A.Sushchevich and N.V.Zaikina, employees of the JINR University Centre and Administration, who spoke about the tools for attracting the youth to science and the strategies of the JINR press service. On Saturday, the School continued with a scientific session - reports by JINR staff. O.V.Rogachevsky, G.V.Serpionov and A.B.Arbuzov spoke about fundamental and applied issues met in the Laboratories of the Institute. Each lecture invariably ended with a lengthy discussion, during which both scientific and organisational issues were discussed. JINR veteran, leading researcher G.A.Shelkov told his young colleagues about the profession of an experimental physicist and the scientific program of the V.P.Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems. In the evening of the same day, the participants of the School met at a round table with the Director of the JINR Cultural Centre "Mir" E.R.Yamaleeva, representatives of the JINR Directorate and Administration S.N.Nedelko, V.A.Matveev, O.Culicov, as well as the Deputy Head of Administration of Dubna N.Yu.Madfes and HR Director of PJSC "Instrument Plant "TENZOR" M.V.Podlesny. The issues discussed included the construction of a modern platform for youth events on the basis of the Cultural Centre, the development of JINR's social infrastructure and the urban environment to attract and retain the youth in Dubna.

On the final day, two parallel master classes took place. School participants could take part in a workshop on machine learning or listen to a lecture on the peculiarities of conducting business correspondence in English. Lead programmer at the Meshcheryakov Laboratory of Information Technologies A.V.Uzhinsky held a master class on working with the Google Earth Engine platform. It uses Google's massive computing power to study a wide variety of issues: forest loss, drought, natural disasters, epidemics, food security, water management, climate change and environmental protection. The participants of the master class learnt about the capabilities and features of the platform on examples. S.V.Sokolova, an employee of Encore Energy, shared her experience in conducting business correspondence in English, spoke about the peculiarities of message design and also focused on the differences between outdated and current rules.

This year, the School program included several innovations. Firstly, reports and master classes were recorded on video. In the future, the assembled materials will be published on the event website and anyone, even if he did not participate in the School, will have the opportunity to plunge into its atmosphere. Secondly, sports and recreational activities became even more diverse. This year, Anastasia Rybakova, an employee of JSC SPA KRYPTEN, took part in the School on an equal footing with everyone else. And every morning on the banks of the reservoir, as a yoga teacher from the "Paporotnik" studio in Dubna, she practiced ashtanga-vinyasa yoga with the participants, charging them with a positive mood for the whole day.

The highlight of the School was SUP-boarding - a water sport in which a person moves on the water by rowing with an oar, standing on the board. The Co-chairman of the School Aleksandr Nezvanov and his wife Evgenia became the initiators. On Saturday morning, teaching the basics of this sport was organised and trainings were held on the water. In total, more than 20 School participants were able to ride SUP boards. In the evening of the same day, the lecturer of the School, as well as the participants of the round table, tried to stand on the "saps". On Sunday, before breakfast, five of the most experienced athletes made an hour-long swim around the island, covering about 4 km and gaining unforgettable impressions of the walk and the beauty of the surrounding nature. Thirdly, this year the School introduced separate waste collection, the implementation of which was also undertaken by Evgenia Nezvanova. Other participants actively supported this idea. As a result, after graduation, the organisers sent a large amount of plastic and glass for recycling that amounted to approximately 15 percent of all garbage removed from the island.

The Organising Committee received a large number of thanks and positive feedback on the past event. The participants noted the high level of organisation, interesting lectures and master classes, a friendly atmosphere promoting easy communication and new acquaintances. The Organising Committee of the School managed to include many leisure activities in its schedule: a sports program, barbecues, board and team games, songs with a guitar by the fire. All this, along with the scientific component, makes Lipnya Island in mid-July a unique place that unites the youth of Dubna and energizes them for new joint achievements!

The organisers promised to take into account the numerous ideas of the participants in their future events, as well as to transfer proposals for the development of infrastructure on the island to the Directorate of the Tourist Base. Next year, young scientists and specialists will gather here to learn something new from their senior colleagues, to take a break from the daily routine and, of course, create something new of their own. Lipnya 2023 will be even more interesting!

Conference Organising Committee