About the Workshop

Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ), Germany, together with the Georgian partner universities (AUG, ISU, GTU and TSU), are planning the 8th Georgian-German School and Workshop in Basic Science (GGSWBS), this time devoted to the topic: "Science at multidisciplinary SMART|Labs in Georgia". The meeting will be held in Tbilisi (TSU, GTU), Georgia, during August 20 - 25, 2018. The event will be conducted in the course of events marking the 100th anniversary of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.

Over the past two decades, Forschungszentrum Jülich has built up close relations with the four main Georgian universities. A major milestone was the mutual foundation of the Georgian-German Science Bridge (GGSB) in 2004. Its programme is based on three pilars: fundamental and applied research, education of students, and knowledge transfer, the latter in form of so called SMART|Labs (SMART stands for Science, Medicine, Applied Research and Technology). Jülich and Georgia attached great importance to the possibility of reintegrating young, well trained Georgian scientists into the Georgian university structures.

Since January 2017, the SMART|EDM_Lab has been in operation at Tbilisi State University (TSU). Its research contributes to the JEDI project, the "Juelich Electric Dipole moment Investigations", which focus on the search for permanent Electric Dipole Moments (EDMs) of charged hadrons. The SMART|Labs offers young Georgian scientists, opportunity to join forefront scientific projects from a base in Georgia. On September 29, 2017, the new SMART|AtmoSim_Lab was opened in TSU, based on a collaboration between the Jülich Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK-8, Troposphere) and the TSU faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences. The lab will be dedicated to atmospheric research, which includes chemical analysis of atmospheric pollutants, mathematical analysis of data and modelling of air pollution. Further SMART|Labs are planned in the areas of brain research and medical applications in collaboration with the Jülich Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM). Both parties have also agreed to jointly organize co-funded yearly Summer Schools (GGSWBS) or Autumn Lectures ("QUALI-Start-Up Science Lectures"), respectively: The Autumn Lectures shall take place at Juelich in successive “odd” years (2017, 2019), while the Summer Schools will be held in Georgia in the corresponding successive “even” years (2018, 2020).

This time, August 2018, in the frame of GGSB, we plan to have a topical meeting – "Multidisciplinary SMART|Labs in Georgia" - which will focus on three components: (i) Symmetries in Subatomic Physics, devoted to the subject of one of the great mysteries of the natural sciences - the dominance of matter over antimatter in the universe; (ii) Atmospheric Research and Modelling, related to the SMART|AtmoSim_Lab, and (iii) Medical Imaging and Biomarkers. During the workshop, we will, e.g., bring together worldwide experts from the accelerator groups, particle physicists and technology from various international collaborations (JEDI, Borexino, JUNO, PAX, ...) to summarize achievements in the field, as well as initiate discussions on further scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries. For the up-coming gathering we also plan to have a dedicated lecturing courses for Bachelor, Magister and PhD students in a wide range of Natural and Engineering Sciences, as well as brainstorming on scientific (ongoing and future) projects and educational (student exchange) programs in form of poster session.