Georgian-German School-Seminar in Fundamental Sciences
Alongside Georgian scientists, the school-seminar was attended by directors and leading specialists from several institutes of the Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany, as well as professors from the universities of Bonn, Münster, Cologne, Aachen, and Düsseldorf.
Tamar Sanikidze, Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, welcomed the conference participants. She stated: "This conference is significant because today we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of mutual cooperation, which is, of course, welcoming. Over the past 10 years, our universities and German colleagues have achieved very good results. We believe that their relationship deserves state support in order to make this cooperation more systematic and long-term. Therefore, we will take advantage of their presence here; we have already prepared several very important documents to be signed, thereby supporting the work of the consortium of Georgian universities with the Jülich Center and other German research institutions."
"Today we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of Georgian-German scientific cooperation, which is a very important date for us. The Jülich Center represents the German side in this cooperation, where Georgian scientists, doctoral students, and students have had the opportunity for years to conduct research alongside their German colleagues. This is important considering that in the period of globalization, it is crucial for global groups to work on solving international-scale problems — the problems that the Jülich Research Center works on," noted Sebastian Schmidt, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Forschungszentrum Jülich.
At the opening of the conference, several agreements were signed, providing for the establishment of joint master's programs between Georgian and German universities, as well as internships for Georgian students at the Jülich Centre for Energy and Climate Research and the Institute for Advanced Simulation (Nuclear Physics Institute).
The first conference was dedicated to hadron physics and was held in 2004. Alongside the TSU Institute of High Energy Physics, it was organized by the Nuclear Physics Institute of the Jülich Research Center and the UNESCO International School of Physics and Mathematics. The conference proved successful, became a tradition, and is held every 2 years. The only exception was 2008, when the well-known events of August hindered the holding of the conference.
In 2010, the Georgian Technical University joined the conference. In parallel, the idea of the Georgian-German Science Bridge (connecting people and knowledge) emerged. By 2014, the thematic scope of the conference expanded further, encompassing a significant area of fundamental and applied research. This year's anniversary conference is also attended by Ilia State University.
The Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia makes a significant contribution to the financing of the conferences. With the co-funding of the same foundation, the involvement of Georgian students in the research ongoing at the Jülich Research Center has significantly increased in recent years. Within the framework of international collaborations, TSU students complete their master's and doctoral theses at the institutes of the Jülich Research Center. For the near future, the creation of joint doctoral programs with German universities is planned for successful doctoral students, which will enable Georgian students to hold a double-degree diploma.
