The SEENET-MTP marks the 15 years of its existence
With a hope of bridging the gap between Southeastern and Western European scientific community, the participants of the UNESCO sponsored Balkan Workshop BW2003 (Vrnjačka Banja, Serbia) came to a common agreement on the initiative for the creation of the Southeast European Network in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics (SEENET-MTP). The Network was a natural extension of the WIGV initiative – Scientists in Global Responsibility, launched by Julius Wess in 1999.
The Network has since grown to include 23 institutions from 11 different countries, as well as more than 450 individual members. There are also 13 partner institutions worldwide supporting the Network’s efforts.
The main objectives of the SEENET-MTP are: providing a regional framework for institutional capacity-building in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics; strengthening the cooperation among faculties, research institutions, groups and individual scientists in South-East Europe; fostering joint scientific and research activities – regional and interregional, in a both European and worldwide context; promoting the exchange of students and encouraging communication between gifted pupils; promoting physics and science in general.
Over the course of 15 years, the Network has implemented or is currently implementing more than 18 projects. The main patrons and partners of the Network in this period were UNESCO (Paris and Venice Office), the CEI and ICTP Trieste, EPS, CERN, DAAD and DFG, as well as the Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, University of Niš and the Serbian and Romanian Ministries of science.
The cooperation between the EPS and SEENET-MTP dates back to a decade ago and had a further reinforcement at the Kick-off Meeting of the EPS Committee of European Integration (EPS-CEI) during the Balkan Workshop BW2013 (Vrnjačka Banja, Serbia). The EPS-CEI and SEENET-MTP have ever since collaborated in domains of mutual interest and activities, such as supporting exchanges of physicists across South-Eastern and Central-Eastern Europe and training of the new generation of physicists, supported at a pan-European level. In 2017 the two parties initiated a process of signing the Memorandum of Agreement.
Scientific collaboration in the SEENET-MTP framework resulted in the publication of more than 225 joint papers, as well as around 15 monographs and Network conference proceedings. More than 300 scientific exchanges (both researchers and students) were realized in this period, and 30 Network meetings took place, with about 1500 participants in total. The Network is also involved in training activities for teachers and students.
The joint CERN – SEENET-MTP PhD Training Program (2015-), actively supported by the EPS and EPS-CEI, as well as the ICTP, is approaching the finalization of its first cycle. Four Schools were held so far. The fifth School – BS2018 “High Energy and Particle Physics: Theory and Phenomenology”, is to be held in Niš, Serbia, 3-10 June 2018. More than 80 PhD and MSc students already took part in this program.
The SEENET has an active role in the education of high-school students. Members of the Network played a crucial role in the creation of the Specialized class for high-school students gifted in physics in Niš in 2003, which produced many quality physicists.
The Network will mark the 15 years of its existence during its central events – the BSW2018, which consists of the aforementioned School and the BW2018 Workshop, entitled “Field Theory and the Early Universe”, June 10-14, 2018, Niš, Serbia. The Workshop topics will cover open problems in particle physics and cosmology, and, as always, in (inter)regional cooperation. The BSW2018 is organized by the SEENET and its Office and Centre in Niš, Faculties of Sciences in Niš and Craiova, with a close cooperation and support from CERN, CEI and ICTP Trieste, EPS, as well as a logistical support from Physical Society Niš. Around 40 students will take part in the School, while the Workshop will number more than 50 participants.
The EPS 50 year jubilee will be marked along with the SEENET-MTP anniversary during the BW2018, with the EPS President Rüdiger Voss, EPS Secretary General David Lee, leaders of the Balkan Physical Union and numerous guests partaking in the event.
