UrFU to Host the Virtual Network Center of the BRICS Countries for Materials Science and Nanotechnology

09:46, October 7, 2020

BRICS Working Group on Materials and Nanotechnology chaired by India resoluted the Center's concept and goals

The concept of the Center's work was agreed upon by the participants of the second meeting of the BRICS Working Group on Materials Science and Nanotechnology, held in the format of a videoconference with the participation of all the countries of the Five under the leadership of the Indian side.

The proposal to create such a Center was initiated by the Russian side in 2017. The concept outlines the goals and objectives of creating the center, as well as the procedure for including individual universities and scientific organizations in it.

Thus, among the main goals of the Center is the organization of international cooperation and the identification of priority areas for joint research between the member countries in the field of materials science and nanotechnology, as well as the attraction of financial and material resources from public and private sources for the development of research, technology and innovation. In addition, within the framework of the Center's work, it is planned to hold thematic international scientific and methodological conferences and seminars, as well as create a web portal with information about the activities of the Center and its participants. The center is open for the participation of leading universities and research institutes of the BRICS countries in the field of materials science and nanotechnology, sharing its goals and objectives, and also willing to participate in joint programs and events on a multilateral and bilateral basis.

The head organization of the virtual network Center is the Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin. UrFU will ensure the work of the secretariat of the virtual network Center, the functioning of the site, the organization of meetings of the Council of the virtual network Center twice a year (in person or in absentia). It is important to underline that UrFU is also managing a project office for the Ural Interregional Resarch and Education Center for Advanced Industrial Materials and Technologies, thus it strongly correlates with the BRICS Virtual Center's key perfomance indicators. 

The members of the Working Group also identified the main areas of materials science that require development in the BRICS countries. Each of the countries will coordinate one or more of them. Thus, Russia is assigned responsibility for the development of the direction of modern magnetic and ferroelectric materials.

In addition, the meeting participants adopted the Regulations on the Activities of the Working Group on Materials Science and Nanotechnologies, which regulate the goals, objectives, functions and procedures for organizing the activities of the Working Group. It should be noted that within the BRICS, Russia and India are the responsible countries responsible for coordinating and implementing the activities of this Working Group.

Source: Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia.