The registration for the summer session of the START 2026 programme has been completed at the JINR University Centre. This year, the selection procedure was improved, and the format of participants' arrivals also changed. Students now arrive not on individual schedules, but in batches – on fixed dates. This simplifies coordination and allows the University Centre to organise joint events for the participants.
The START 2026 summer session will run from July to November. When submitting their applications, students were required to select topic numbers from the JINR thematic plan for 2026 that correspond to their scientific interests. This new mechanism has allowed supervisors to filter the list of candidates as early as the registration stage, making the selection more targeted and transparent.
"We are gradually improving the participant selection system," noted Dmitry Kamanin, Director of the University Centre. "The new procedure linked to the thematic plan is an important step towards making the mechanism as convenient as possible for everyone: supervisors find interested students more quickly; students get a clearer understanding of the internship's objectives and the prospects of working at JINR. We are also trying to reduce the 'manual' workload for the organizing committee members. The transition to batch arrivals allows us to gather a larger number of participants together and conduct additional events for them that enrich the programme."
One such event was the first, in the history of START, master class on public speaking, held on March 13, 2026, for participants of the winter session. The class was conducted in Russian and brought together students from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Egypt. The workshop was led by Ekaterina Ovchinnikova, a teacher of public speaking and a professional consultant on presentations. The expert shared with the students the secrets of successful communication, which are essential for a modern scientist when defending projects and speaking at conferences.
Thus, the START programme has taken another step in improving its participant selection mechanism while also adding new elements to the internship programme itself.
