High-ranking delegation from India visits FAIR together with BMBF and HMWK
17.10.2024 |
Recently, Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Science & Technology (DST) together with a delegation from India visited FAIR. This visit took place on invitation by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), which also participated in the visit with a delegation led by Stefan Müller, Director General Provision for the Future – Basic Research and Research for Sustainable Development, BMBF. They were accompanied by Ophelia Lindemann, Division III 4A from the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Arts and Culture (HMWK).
Following a welcome the delegations visited the FAIR construction site, where they could witness the new buildings, which are currently being equipped with infrastructure and first accelerator components. The visitors could gather an overview of the facility from the roof of the cross-building, where all the necessary cooling turrets are already installed. Of particular interest were the power converters provided as an Indian In-Kind contribution to FAIR, some of which are already installed in their final location. Other sights were the first already installed superconducting magnets in the SIS100 tunnel, the Super-FRS area and the experimental areas of CBM and NUSTAR.
After a bilateral meeting, the delegations met with Indian researchers at GSI/FAIR for an informal exchange. The participants discussed stumbling blocks and opportunities for Indian researchers in Germany and possibilities to stay connected with India.
Stefan Müller concluded by saying: “BMBF is very grateful for the visit of the Indian DST secretary. FAIR is a cornerstone of the cooperation with India and a hub of Indo-German science. FAIR has made a lot of progress despite all recent challenges. FAIR is now developing on schedule, all of which would not have been possible without our Indian partners.”
Prof. Abhay Karandikar stated: “For India, FAIR is very important, in particular, as we celebrate 50-years of Indo-German cooperation in science and technology this year. A large research community in India is looking forward to perform experiments in FAIR. Currently, there are 40 to 50 groups from various institutions in India engaged in FAIR and we are prepared to take it to the next level.” (BP)
