The Activities of the Network implemented in the period September 2008 – August 2009 were partially financed by UNESCO-BRESCE under the Contract No. 875.922.8. The whole program was proposed and implemented through five main actions:

  • (Action 1) Working Plan for Capacity building activities for undergraduate students and high school pupils
  • (Action 2) Exchange Program and Mobility
  • (Action 3) SEENET-MTP events, and events partially supported by the Network
  • (Action 4) Fundraising activities

ACTION 1 Working Plan for Capacity building activities for high school and undergraduate students

Already existed program for capacity building and promotion of science for youth has been extended to much broader public, covering, in a sense the whole region. Popular lectures adjusted to the target audience had an important scientific and cultural dimension, allowing scientific and students` community in the region to be aware of the scientific capacity and cultural tradition and trends in various countries in the region. In general, promotion of sciences for undergraduate students and gifted high school pupils has been one of the priorities in the whole Network program. The first Romania-Serbia meeting of high school pupils and undergraduate students (held in Craiova in the autumn 2008) was the first regional meeting of this kind.

Popular lectures: An important part of the activities was the organization of attractive public lectures. The way of dealing with modern topics in physics, cosmology, biology-genetics and related subjects was adjusted to high school students. Almost all of the lecturers and lectures were very attractive and gathered audience of hundreds of people (http://tesla.pmf.ni.ac.rs/pop-science). The lectures are very useful for teachers as well, and available through Internet or as (two already issued) books with the corresponding CD.

  1. Prof. R. Constantinescu, F. Uliu and G. Stoenescu (Craiova), gave two joint complex presentations of “Experience and stay of art in physics education and work with gifted pupils in science teaching“, for teachers, students and university professors in Nis. During the visit, delegation from the University of Craiova and SEENET-MTP coordinators visited the City Hall and the Mayor and discussed the program of the Meeting (“Science and society“) of students and teachers in Romania, local support and possibilities for broader cooperation in science, education and culture (October 2008).
  2. Prof. M. Cirkovic (Belgrade/Novi Sad) gave a popular lecture with the title “Will the future resemble the past; Selection effects and global risks” at the Faculty of Science and Mathematics (PMF), Nis (November 2008).
  3. Prof. A. Belic (Belgrade) as the president of the Serbian Physical Society and the head of the SC Laboratory (Belgrade) visited Nis on the occasion of 5 anniversary of the SEENET-MTP Network and gave a popular lecture in Serbian with the title “Computer application in science” at PMF, Nis (December 2008).
  4. Prof. B. Dragovic (Belgrade) gave two lectures with the titles “Dark side of the Universe” and “Mathematics in Genetics” at PMF, Nis (March 2009).
  5. Prof. S. Ninkovic (Belgrade) met high school students and teachers form South-East Serbia, and on behalf of Serbian Commission for Astronomical Olympiad informed them about the Astronomy Competition on the national and the international level. Prof. Ninkovic also gave a popular lecture in Serbian with the title “Star systems” at PMF, Nis. It was the initial point for the preparation and the first Astronomy Competition in the region in spring 2009 (March 2009).
  6. Prof. D. Stojkovic (Buffalo/New York) gave lectures with the title “Mini black holes in CERN” at PMF, Belgrade-Nis (June 2009).
  7. Prof. I. Dorsner (Sarajevo, Ljubljana) gave a popular lecture on “Proton decay” at the Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Nis (April 2009).

Capacity building activities:

  1. Prof. G. Djordjevic (Nis) as the coordinator of the SEENET-MTP visited the Belgrade Institute of Physics, the Ministry of Science, and the Faculty of Science, Novi Sad. During his visit he met the vice president of the Serbian Physical Society (A. Belic), and the Deputy Ministers (V. Nedovic, N. Dragovic and M. Veskovic). He presented working plan of the Network in the field of capacity buildings and science promotion and got advices and full support for two projects cofinanced by the Serbian Ministry of Science in 2008 and 2009 (September 2008).
  2. MSc Dejan Dimitrijevic (Nis) participated in the First International Meeting “Science and Society”, Craiova-Nis at the Faculty of Physics, Craiova, Romania and took part as one of the team leaders (preparation of the problems and a member of the Steering Board – Djordjevic, Mancev, Nesic, Dimitrijevic, Stoenescu, Uliu) in the Physics Contest, which was a part of the meeting “Science and Society”, with about 40 participants, high school and undergraduate students (October-November 2008).

During the Meeting “Science and Society“ there were 3 public lectures: C. Florea (Paris) “Microcosmos and the Constants of the Universe“, M. Stavinschi “International Year of Astronomy“, and G. Djordjevic (Nis) “Particles, Cosmology and all that through networking and partnerships for neighbors and friends“ (http://cis01.central.ucv.ro/physics/ro/info_general/nis.htm). Two TV movies were recorded (Romanian-English, Serbian) and presented in Romania and Serbia (2 DVD`s are included in the report).

Additional Notes: We would like to emphasize the activities within the program “School of Physics“ and “Winter Camp of Physics“ in Serbia. School of Physics has attracted about 100 pupils every Saturday who enjoyed physics, did exercises, experiments and followed public lecturers. “Winter Camp of Physics“ had its third edition and assembled more than 120 pupils from elementary schools from Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even though support of the Network has been more than symbolic one, the result and impact of this support tremendously increased interest of pupils, parents and teachers. The support from national and local sources is increasing and one expects this activity will be sustainable one in the long run. Several activities in framework of the SEENET-MTP cooperation and “2009 Year of Astronomy“ were organized but not directly financed from this particular grant-project.

In May 2009, SEENET-MTP took part (together with the Serbian Physical Society-Nis, Municipality and University of Nis, Institutes of Physics Belgrade and Vinca, as well as Serbian Academy of Science and Art) in organization of Award Ceremony for pupils with the best results achieved at the national and international competitions in Physics. On that occasion “One day pilot” Exposition “LHC and CERN in Nis” was performed. In addition, Prof. P. Adzic (Belgrade) gave the talk “The biggest experiment of the Mankind”. It was a very visited event with a high visibility in different media. The list of awarded pupils is given in the Appendix.

Publications: Exchange of books and journals between Croatia (Zagreb) and Serbia (Nis, Belgrade) has been continued. Several dozen books and journals on mathematics and physics were donated to the best high school students (https://www.seenet-mtp.info/news/vece-fizike/?lang=rs). It has been a symbolical but very important act of support to the 7 generations of pupils in “Class for gifted high school students in physics and sciences” in Nis, started in 2003 with moral and financial support of UNESCO-ROSTE. One of the most important activities of the SEENET-MTP Network in this field, is the publication of the book on “Modern Topics in Science”, basically in Physics, in cooperation with the Serbian Ministry of Science, a bilingual one, English and Serbian. The book consists of popular-nontechnical articles of the leading researchers, members and partners of the Network, suitable for a broader public, especially for the teachers and gifted pupils and young students. A list of authors of the submitted papers, under final review, is to be given in the Appendix. UNESCO-BRESCE support is kindly acknowledged in all public presentations and publications.

ACTION 2 Exchange Program and Mobility

The list of the scientists included in this program was created on the proposals made by the members of the Representative Committee (RC) and coordinated by the members of the Executive Committee (EC). The program was implemented on the basis of scientific and teaching interests of the research group, scientific background of the invited guests and the quality of students and young researchers, In the implementation of the mobility a balance between geographical representation, local financial support and other contributions from the host nodes were considered.

Exchange Program:

  1. Prof. G. Djordjevic (Nis) visited the Faculty of Physics in Craiova and Sibiu, Romania and considered ongoing and prospective activities on the regional level for high school pupils, students teachers and researchers with representatives from Bulgaria. Greece, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, UNESCO National Commission (Romania) and private foundations. They agreed to continue and upgrade collaboration and prepare joint projects in the main field of SEENET-MTP Network activities. He gave talks “Classiacl versus quantum cosmology” and “SEENET-MTP Network as an auxiliary tool for promotion of the projects with regional-Balkan context” (February 2009).
  2. Prof. L. Bonora (Trieste) visited Serbia. As a member of the SEENET-MTP Scientific – Advisory Committee Prof. Bonora took part as a member of the Board for selection of the SEENET-MTP fellowships. He took part in the joint Meeting of the SEENET-MTP Committes, presented SISSA programs and proposed future projects in the CEI program. Prof. Bonora also gave 4 lectures on String Field Theory (April 2009).
  3. Prof. H. Stefancic (Zagreb) visited the Faculty of Physics Belgrade, and PMF Nis. Prof. Stefancic gave a series of 4 lectures about Cosmological Constant Problem (April 2009).
  4. Prof. D. Vulcanov (Timisoara) visited the Belgrade Institute of Physics and PMF, Nis and gave a series of lectures about the Computational Method in Cosmology and General Relativity. The visit was also used to discuss SEENET-MTP Short-term Fellowships (April 2009).
  5. Prof. G. Djordjevic (Nis) visited Romania. During his visit Prof. Djordjevic discussed, with the node’s representatives, about SEENET-MTP activities–organization of conferences, preparation of the “Bridge project” and implementation of the SEENET-MTP Short-term Fellowships. He gave talks “Aritmetical and Geometrical Challenges Beyond the Standard Model in particle Physics and Cosmology” and “Multiple Universe and Multiple Reality!?” (May 2009).
  6. MSc A. Chatzistavrakidis (Athens) visited the Faculty of Physics, Belgrade (Serbia). The aim of the visit was to continue the existing collaboration with the colleagues from Belgrade (Buric, Dimitrijevic, Radovanovic). The main topic of the research was to investigate the noncommutative geometry of GW model (May 2009).
  7. Prof. L. Jonke (Zagreb) visited the Faculty of Physics and the Belgrade Institute of Physics, Serbia. The purpose of the visit was to continue collaboration with colleagues in Belgrade. Prof. Jonke gave a seminar talk “Homolumo gap and matrix model” at the Institute of Physics (May 2009).
  8. MSc M. Cvetkovic (Nis) visited the Faculty of Physics, Craiova and Timisoara and started his PhD program in Group Theory and Quntum Field Theory on Curved Space (June 2009).
  9. Prof. R. Constantinescu (Craiova) visited the Universities of Nis, Zagreb and Ljubljana. The visit was used to present current research and educational activites at his home Faculty, and introduce colleagues with the new project and strategy for the forthcoming activities of the SEENET-MTP Network to be presented to ICTP (Trieste) and UNESCO-BRESCE (Venice) (August 2009).

Note: Prof. M. Visinescu visited the University of Ankara. His visit was also related to the International Workshop in Ankara (November 2008).

Several exchanges (for instance, L. Hadjivanov (Sofia), A. Nicolaidis (Thessaloniki)) have been postponed for the next program, on their request. Numerous papers related to the SEENET-MTP program have been published with acknowledgment for support.

SEENET-MTP Short-term Fellowships:

The SEENET-MTP Network, in collaboration with UNESCO-BRESCE Venice and UNESCO-IBSP program, offered 2 short-term fellowships (https://www.seenet-mtp.info/breaking-news/short-term-fellowships/), with one month duration, to PhD and MSc students (theoretical, mathematical physics or an adequate) from SEE countries already joined the SEENET-MTP Network (Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Romania, Serbia and Turkey). The conditions for the application were that a PhD or MSc student, has a very good record through study, in particular in theoretical and mathematical physics, strong motivation for research, ability to communicate and collaborate, and good knowledge of English. The fellowship provided by the Network was up to 1000 USD, paid through the host institution. The List of the Institutions, groups and individual researchers with the proposed topics to be studied during the visit were announced at https://www.seenet-mtp.info/misc/fellowships/. There were 11 regular applications (before the deadline and with the complete information about the applicants) from Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. The board consisting of 5 members of the SEENET-MTP committees decided to grant Marko Simonovic and Milos Cvetkovic with the SEENET-MTP Short-term Fellowships.

Note: An additional fellowship was given to Marija Marjanovic, on the basis of the ICTP SEENET-MTP grant-project.

  1. Marko Simonovic (Belgrade) spent one month at the Faculty of Physics University of Craiova, Romania. The visit had been carried out through lectures, seminars, homework, reading scientific papers and consultations with professors. The main topics considered during his study program were BRST symmetry, field-antifield formalism and applications in gauge theories with focus on gauge fixing and constructing interacting theories starting from free action for desired field constituents. Many new scientific and personal contacts have been made with professors and students at the Faculty of Physics (July-August 2009).
  2. Milos Cvetkovic (Nis) spent one month at the Faculty of Physics West University of Timisoara, Romania. The visit had been carried through seminars, homework, reading scientific papers and consultations with professors. The main topics considered during his study program were group theory (unitary and orthogonal transformation) and basic facts on Quantum Field Theory on curved space-time.

ACTION 3 SEENET-MTP Scientific events, and events partially supported by the Network

  • The 2nd SEENET-MTP International School on Modern Trends in Mathematical Physics (06-11 September, 2008, Varna, Bulgaria)

The 2nd SEENET-MTP International School on Modern Trends in Mathematical Physics was focused on training by lectures and discussion seminars suitable for students and young researchers (http://theo.inrne.bas.bg/mmp2008/). The topics were related to the latest development in Cosmology and String theory. About 40 participants from 10 countries took part in this event. A detailed report is presented as an Appendix.

Note: Because payment from UNESCO-BRESCE to PMF Nis was done in November 2009, transfer of financial contribution from PMF Nis to the organizer (INRNE Sofia) for the participants proposed by the Organizer (INRNE Sofia) was implemented after that and receipt of documentation.

  • International Workshop on “New Trends in Science and Technology” (3 – 4 November, 2008, Ankara, Turkey)

This workshop provided a place to exchange recent developments and progresses on nanoscience and nanotechnology, nonlinear science and complexity in mathematics, physics and engineering as well as on symmetries, supersymmetries and integrable systems (http://ntst08.cankaya.edu.tr/). A number of 60 papers were presented as oral contributions and 30 papers were presented as posters during the workshop. Selected papers will be published by the Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation-Special Issue and Springer in a book. A detailed report is presented as an Appendix.

  • Spring School in Strings, Cosmology and Particles (31 March – 4 April, 2009, Belgrade/Nis, Serbia) & Workshop and Meeting of the SEENET-MTP Representative Committee

The central event within the Program of the Southeast European Network in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics for 2009 was the Spring School in Strings and Cosmology (SSSCP2009, https://seenet-mtp.info/ssscp2009/). This meeting was of a very high scientific level and very important for further development of the Network structure and its promotion. About 60 participants from 11 countries from all over the world took part in this event. The Book of short contributions was printed and published. A detailed report is presented in the Appendix.

About 20 talks were given and some of the talks and corresponding lecture note s and reviews are included in central publication of the Network in 2009 – the special issue in Monograph Series of the Publications of the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade. A detailed report is presented in Appendix.

Several important decisions were taken at the Meeting of the SEENET-MTP Representative Committee, which was held during the Spring School in Strings and Cosmology. Leading structure of the Network will be as follows: Dr. Radu Constantinescu (Professor at the Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Craiova, Romania) will act as President of the Network for the forthcoming two years. The permanent Office of the Network will be reinforced and continue to work in Nis. Dr. Goran Djordjevic (Professor at the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Nis), will act as the Executive Director of the Network and its permanent Office in Nis. In the next 2 years Network will be focused mainly one two “big” meetings, School and Workshops in: Romania (May 2010) and Serbia (August 2011). Network activities will be extended to database collection and participation in creation of a Regional Development Strategy for Physics and Mathematics. Increasing interest of Institutions in the region to join the Network (3 new institutions in 2009, 16 in total) 12 partners all over the world and about 200 individual members has been evaluated as a very positive result. The Network coordinatorship in period 2003-2009 and activities of the ad-hock Office in Nis were kindly acknowledged.

Participation of Mr. E. Ruoss at the conference, his talk, meeting with representatives of the Serbian National Commission for UNESCO, members of the Representative Committee of SEENET-MTP, Mayor of Nis and his collaborators, delegation of the University and statements to the media, has had a great impact to the society and gave a new dimension to all ongoing and future activities of the Network, not necessarily limited to the science.

It has triggered, very soon, a quite big interest in cooperation with UNESCO, to UNESCO in general, to create new official structures in this direction and invest resources in the international cooperation in science, education and culture.

ACTION 4 Fundraising activities

During the last 5 years, besides UNESCO-BRESCE, numerous institutions and international organizations have supported organization of the Network Meetings and other activities.

Support from Serbian Ministry of Science and Technological Development, through two projects directly related to the UNESCO-BRESCE/IBSP grant, is reaching level of 50% of the basic project reporting in 2008 and 2009. It is announced that a similar level of support would be provided for the next biennium. Funding in field promotion of science, popularization and capacity building is about 11 000 EUR, for the same period. Support related to the special events is reported separately.

Financial support from the City of Nis reaches the amount of about 13 000 EUR (3000 EUR for the equipment in the Computational Laboratory & SEENET-MTP office and up to 10 000 EUR for the program of promotion of International cooperation in Science and Education, preparation for the Strategic documents in capacity building in Science education and Culture, to be implemented by SEENET-MTP Office – The Faculty of Science Nis, The University of Craiova, The Ministry of Science, Serbia, and other partners). A part of the project is used to establish, organize and equip SEENET-MTP permanent Office in Nis.

Strong logistic support, support for furnishing of the SEENET-MTP Office and the Laboratory for Computational Physics, as well as support for other expenses (including support in kind for the whole meetings and lecturers in Nis) from the coordinating node – The Faculty of science, Nis (and The Institute of Physics as a part of the PMF, Nis) – is kindly acknowledged and will be continued. Its support in total can be estimated as no less than 3000 EUR.

Beside support for the SEENET-MTP Network meetings in this and previous years, ICTP – The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics supported in a part SEENET-MTP Network exchange program for the 2009 year, in particular activities related to the Strings & Cosmology working groups, with a grant-project of about 5500 EUR, as a minimum.

Beside, indirect support for the SEENET-MTP activities through LMU and MPI Munich partnerships for mobility, exchange and Network events, The Bavarian ministry for science, research and art accepted to finance a Training & Mobility project submitted by the Chair for Mathematical Physics LMU Munich and the Chair for Theoretical Physics PMF Nis with an amount up to 6500 EUR in 2009. The training program to be implemented in Serbia will be open and supported for young researchers and students from all SEENET-MTP countries. G. Djordjevic gave three presentations in Regensburg and Munich mostly related to the SEENET-MTP Network and a general overview of the International Academic Cooperation in Serbia. During this visit cooperation with UNESCO was highly acknowledged and evaluated and the first direct project with the representatives of the Bavarian Ministry was considered and preliminary approved (April-May 2009).

The SEENET-MTP Network has been included in the “MassTeV“ (Mass hierarchy and particle physics at the TeV scale) FP7 Network/Program recently approved 5-years project coordinated by CERN and Prof. I. Antoniadis. It will provide an additional partial cofinancing for the SEENET-MTP conferences during the project.

Moral and technical support of the Serbian National Commissions for UNESCO has been a continual one and very useful. Members of the Executive Committee are in charge to provide support from the corresponding National Commission for this Network.

The University of Craiova, Romania, provided high level financing for two Network’s activities proposed by the reporting project, organized under the aegis of the previous project. The international school and workshop “QFT and Hamiltonian Systems” held in May, 2008, in Calimanesti and “Science and Society“ in Craiova. Direct support from the organizers for the latter, together with The Romanian Ministry for Education, reach amount of about 2000 EUR

The Serbian Physical Society Nis, provided technical, financial and support in kind, form its own sources or permanent partnerships with local institutions of about 1000 EUR.

Moral and technical support from the Serbian and Romanian National Commissions for UNESCO has been a continual one and very useful. Members of the Executive Committee have been in charge to provide support from the corresponding National Commission for this Network.

SEENET-MTP members and Network nodes have been included in the preparation of the project: “Science and Spiritual Information – Big Questions on the Universe“, leaded by Romanian Institutions and supported by Romanian National Commissions for UNESCO National foundations and Templeton foundation.

Dr. S. Quarrie (Head of Consultative Bureau for International Projects, Ministry of Science, Belgrade) performed two days training course “Academic skills” in 4 thematic modulus: Good quality research, Scientific writing skills, Presentational skills and Management skills, devoted to young researchers for their training in presentation of the scientific results and projects (April 2009).

PMF Nis – SEENET-MTP office and University of Craiova are preparing a COST project. Details and list of all partners would be available in 2 months.

One of the most visible public presentation of UNESCO and SEENET-MTP cooperation have been invited talks of the Network coordinator at University “Kolarac“- Belgrade (“Networking of Balkan“ and “Inflationary paradigm“) It has had a very positive effect for additional financing of the SEENET-MTP, at least in Serbia.
http://www.slideshare.net/seenet/inflaciona-paradigma-kosmos-kao-tamparija?type=powerpoint, http://www.slideshare.net/seenet/umreavanje-balkana-regionalne-mree-u-nauci-i-obrazovanju-kao-nain-ubrzanog-razvoja?type=powerpoint.

A valuable support of MSc D. Dimitrijevic, secretary of the SEENET-MTP and its Office, and Ms. Jelena Stankovic, in preparation of the scientific report is kindly acknowledged.