“FAIR Days Poland” hosted by Jagiellonian University Krakow

13.12.2021 |

Two “FAIR Days”, recently hosted by Jagiellonian University (JU) Krakow, aimed to boost the Polish participation in FAIR. It was a very successful event with a number of important meetings, including such with the Vice Rector Research of the Jagiellonian University, with the Polish Academy of Sciences, with a very large and qualified delegation of Polish industries, with authorities and with the representatives of the different universities which are participating in FAIR. A colloquium and the signature of cooperation agreements were also part of the program.

Visit IFJ PAN Krakow and Cyclotron Centre Bronowice

The FAIR/GSI delegation with Professor Paolo Giubellino, Scientific Managing Director, Jörg Blaurock, Technical Managing Director, and GET_INvolved Programme coordinator Dr. Pradeep Ghosh visited the Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ PAN) in Krakow, where they met with Director Professor Tadeusz Lesiak and several department heads to learn about the institute's research activities. The meeting was very insightful for the Management as the skillset and experience of the researchers and engineers are considered as a powerful resource when comes to the commissioning and the installation of the FAIR components. There was also an opportunity to visit the Cyclotron Centre Bronowice (in Polish - Centrum Cyklotronowe Bronowice, CCB), where the cyclotron facility serves as a perfect example of the application of fundamental science in tumor radiotherapy.

Signing Ceremony at Jagiellonian University Krakow

FAIR/GSI and Jagiellonian University authorities signed a cooperation document (“memorandum of understanding”) and an agreement on student and staff mobility within the framework of the GET_INvolved Program. At the event at the Collegium Maius in Krakow, Poland's oldest University in Poland was represented by Professor Piotr Kutrowski, Vice-Rector for Research at JU. The FAIR/GSI delegation included Professor Paolo Giubellino, Jörg Blaurock, and Dr. Pradeep Ghosh.

As a result of the new collaboration agreement, students and workers of the Jagiellonian University will be able to take benefit from the extensive research capabilities of the future FAIR accelerator center. Young researchers, in particular, will benefit from specialized internships for bachelor's and master's degree programs as well as joint research for PhD programs.

The signing of the agreement, which was also attended by several representatives from Jagiellonian University and the JU Faculty of Physics, Astronomy, and Applied Computer Science, was followed by a discussion on the role of Jagiellonian University in FAIR, which included Professor Piotr Salabura, Professor Zbigniew Majka, and Alicja Nowakowska, in addition to the FAIR/GSI delegation and Professor Kustrowski.

Meeting with representatives of industry and AGH ASIC development centers

An instructive session was organized at Jagiellonian University for representatives from several Polish firms that are either making high-tech products or are interested in participating in the mega-science project. The representatives of the industry had the opportunity to explain the significant qualities of their products and for the FAIR project. The firms Prevac, KrioSystem, Kordecki Automation and S2innovation offered themselves to the management during this event. Solaris - National Center for Synchrotron Radiation and AGH University of Science and Technology officials also spoke about their achieved results. Ms. Nowicka, the liaison officer for the Polish shareholders explained how industry representatives may have access to information about forthcoming bids and how they can actively search for interdisciplinary projects at FAIR.

Launch of FAIR Seminars at JU

The second day of the visit of the FAIR Delegation began providing an inaugural seminar about FAIR, which was a webcast live for all Jagiellonian University students and researchers. FAIR Seminars is a new initiative of the Jagiellonian University and the Institute of Nuclear Physics PAN to organize a series of monthly seminars on the FAIR project. This initiative aims to disseminate among Polish scientists, engineers and students the knowledge about the project of the FAIR accelerator center being built at Darmstadt, which will be one of the largest centers of this type in the world. The seminars will discuss the main research pillars of FAIR (NUSTAR, CBM, PANDA, APPA), the status of the project, and above all - the participation of Polish research groups in this project. This public session was the starting point of a series of FAIR seminars at Jagiellonian University.

Meeting with National Consortium FEMTOPHYSICS

The FAIR Management met with nominated representatives from the National Consortium FEMTOPHYSICS (NCF) (in Polish Krajowe Konsorcjum FEMTOFIZYKA), which is made up of 12 Polish institutions that collaborate on the FAIR experiments. The delegates got a unique opportunity to speak with the FAIR/GSI Management about their concerns and questions, as well as discuss important problems related to FAIR Experiments. This discussion was crucial in terms of scheduling the following steps for the FAIR Phase 0 experiments in 2022, as well as the Project's transition from construction to Day 1 experiments.

The “FAIR Days Poland” hosted by the Jagiellonian University were very fruitful as all aspects of the FAIR Project were covered. Moreover, the signed agreements will enable scientists from the Jagiellonian University to significantly broaden the use of the research possibilities of the FAIR center. The prepared contract is particularly oriented towards young scientists by launching a dedicated system of apprenticeships, research internships and jointly conducted masters and doctoral dissertations. (BP)

About Jagiellonian University

The Jagiellonian University (JU) was founded on 12 May 1364 by the Polish king Casimir the Great. It is the oldest higher education institution in Poland and one of the oldest in Europe. Jagiellonian University was nominated by the Minister of Science and Higher Education for international shareholder in FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in Europe) GmbH. The Jagiellonian University has been coordinating and managing Polish participation in the FAIR program since 2010. The Jagiellonian University – Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science – is working on several large projects related to the design of FAIR’s scientific equipment.

About National Consortium FEMTOPHYSICS

The National Consortium of FEMTOPHYSICS was established to prepare a structure focusing on experimental research activities at FAIR. The area of substantive activities of the National Consortium FEMTOPHYSICS is research in the field of physics and its applications. The national consortium includes the following prestigious institutes (in alphabetical order): the AGH University of Science and Technology, the Institute of Nuclear Physics PAN, the National Centre of Nuclear Research, the Cracow University of Technology, the Warsaw University of Technology, the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, the Gdańsk University of Technology, the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (coordinating entity), Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce, the University of Lodz, the University of Silesia in Katowice and the University of Warsaw.

About GET_INvolved Programme

The GET_INvolved Programme provides international students and early-stage researchers from partner institutions with opportunities to perform internships, traineeships and early-stage research experience to get involved in the international FAIR accelerator project while receiving scientific and technical training. For more information on the GET_INvolved Programme, interested persons can contact the respective coordinators: Dr. Pradeep Ghosh (GSI and FAIR, Pradeep.Ghosh@fair-center.eu) and Professor Piotr Salabura (Jagiellonian University, Piotr.Salabura@uj.edu.pl).