LOS ANGELES, March 18. /TASS/. The US visit of a delegation from the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) was fruitful, proving that the two countries’ researchers are ready to boost cooperation at various levels, RAS President Alexander Sergeyev told TASS.
"We are going back to Russia with a message that as far as science is concerned, we [Russia and the US] are still interested in each other and ready for cooperation at various levels," he noted. "We have agreed to introduce brainstorming task forces into our cooperation," Sergeyev added.
According to him, such task forces usually involve 10-15 people, who "gather together for a day or two, or for a couple of weeks, lock themselves away and start discussing a certain field of study, experiments’ results and trends." "They work in a brainstorming mode. Then the participants outline plans for the future and decide who will do what," Sergeyev explained, adding that countries capable of encouraging their leading experts to conduct brainstorms set trends in science.
Brainstorming sessions
The RAS president noted that Russia had suspended academic exchanges with other countries’ academies of sciences in 2013. "New laws give us a chance to do it, so we hope that we will be granted a budget to that end. We have already made plans to hold the first five brainstorming sessions this year, which will particularly deal with climate issues, space and space medicine," he said.
"Besides, we discussed two joint task forces with NASA, one of which concerns Venus and the second one is related to the Moon program. Our American colleagues suggested that the first task force meet in October and the second one next year. Our colleagues from the California Institute of Technology are ready for a brainstorming session on the next generation of gravitational wave detectors," said the RAS president, who held a working meeting with David Reitze, a California Institute of Technology research professor and the Executive Director of the Laser Interferometric Gravitational Wave Observatory, which was the first to record gravitational waves in 2015.
Russia’s science has resources necessary for such a project, including competencies, lasers and optical equipment. "There are institutes and researchers ready to engage in this work," Sergeyev said.
Scientists are beyond politics
The RAS president described the Russian delegation’s visit to the US as fruitful. "We did practically everything we had planned, holding meetings, talks and singing an agreement. We have made plans for future cooperation with the US Academy of Sciences and NASA," he said.
"Importantly, despite political and diplomatic tensions with the United States, relations between scientists haven’t changed much. We continue to hold interesting and meaningful meetings," Sergeyev noted, pointing to the warm welcome the Russian delegation had received in the US.
"We didn’t see any change in the attitude of our colleagues," he added.
Cooperation agreement
While in the US, the RAS delegation led by Sergeyev signed a five-year agreement on cooperation in scientific, engineering and medical studies with the US National Academy of Sciences.