The 18th National Nuclear Physics Congress was held at the International Conference Center of the Longemont Diamond Hotel from May 12 to 16. This Congress was sponsored by the Chinese Society of Nuclear Physics, hosted by Huzhou University and funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. More than 700 experts, scholars and students from 95 universities and 27 research institutes, including Peking University, Fudan University, the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics of  Chinese Academy of Sciences, and China Institute of Atomic Energy, attended this gathering.

The opening ceremony was attended by: Zhang Huanqiao, an academician from China Institute of Atomic Energy; Xu Hushan, director of the Institute of Modern Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chairman of the 13th Council of the Chinese Nuclear Physics Society; Yang Chenhua, office director of the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation Committee; Chen Dongfeng, vice-president of China Institute of Atomic Energy and Secretary General of the 13th Council of the Chinese Nuclear Physics Society; Jin Kai, vice-mayor of Huzhou Municipal People’s Government; Jin Peihua, party secretary of Huzhou University; and vice-president of Huzhou University Li Qingfeng, who presided over the ceremony.

Jin Peihua delivered the opening speech. On behalf of Huzhou University, he thanked the experts and scholars attending the meeting for their support and introduced the history of the university and its achievements in the construction of the physics discipline in recent years. He said that Huzhou has a deep origin in nuclear physics and the university attaches great importance to the study of nuclear physics. As early as 2002, this university created a nuclear physics team, which, after more than 20 years’ development, has become an important force in nuclear physics research in China. The team has gradually formed a “sky-high” development pattern with basic research aimed at the forefront of international academia and applied research serving local economic construction. Jin Peihua hopes the discipline of physics of Huzhou Univeristy will take this conference as an opportunity to carry out extensive academic exchanges, expand the platform for scientific research cooperation and strive to become a high-level discipline with provincial characteristics, domestic status and international influence.

Chen Dongfeng read a congratulatory letter from the Chinese Nuclear Society. The letter pointed out that since establishment, the Nuclear Physics Branch of the National Nuclear Society has strengthened the applied research of nuclear physics research in China’s national economy, improved the research capability and level of nuclear physics in China, united and condensed outstanding talents in the field of nuclear physics research, enhanced the strength and influence of the Chinese Nuclear Society, and made important contributions to the construction of China’s nuclear industry.

Yang Chenhua addressed the conference. He said that the provincial party committee and provincial government have made it clear that in the next five years, Zhejiang will fully implement the “315” scientific and technological innovation system, vigorously promote scientific and technological innovation and invigorate the province through talents. At present, Huzhou University is comprehensively advancing the construction of a high-level normal university, and hopes to take this conference as an opportunity to further create a sound scientific research atmosphere, reinforce high-level talent introduction and cultivation and build high-level scientific research platform, so as to provide big scientific and technological support for the high-quality development of local economy and society. At the same time, it will make positive contributions to Zhejiang in building an important talent center and innovation highland in the world.

In his speech, Jin kai introduced about Huzhou’s economic and social development, including situations in scientific and technological innovation. He said that nuclear physics, as an important basic research field, has a close relationship with energy, national defense and other related applications, and Huzhou has a very deep connection with nuclear physics. As a local university, Huzhou University is in the forefront of nuclear physics research in Zhejiang Province, reaching the domestic advanced level, with its discipline of nuclear physics as the only key discipline in the direction of nuclear physics in the province. He hopes that experts and scholars can carry out extensive academic exchanges, spark new ideas, inspire new insights, and harvest more theoretical and technical achievements through this conference.

Xu Hushan made a report on the work of the 13th Council of the Nuclear Physics Society, introducing its achievements in academic exchanges, talent recommendation, popular science lectures, etc. and analyzing the development trend of the discipline of nuclear physics. He also listed the highlights of the work in nuclear physics in China over the past three years. Also held at the opening ceremony were the awarding of “the 8th Hu Jimin Education and Science Award”  and the election of a new board of directors.

The Congress lasted for 5 days and included 13 invited presentations and 346 session presentations. Topics of academic exchange covers: nuclear structure and high spin state physics, radionuclide beams and nuclear astrophysics, low intermediate energy nuclear to nuclear collisions, fusion and fission dynamics, superheavy nucleosynthesis and reaction mechanisms, unstable nuclear reactions and nuclear structure, hadron physics, equation of state and symmetry energy of nuclear matter, medium and high energy nuclear physics, strong phase transitions, quantum chromodynamics, accelerators and nuclear detection instruments and target making technology, nuclear technology applications and nuclear reactor physics and materials, machine learning and quantum computing applications in nuclear physics, and other related fields of nuclear physics and nuclear technology.

At the closing ceremony, the signing of the cooperation and launch ceremony of the China Nuclear Physics Preprint Platform was held. Zhang Zhixiong, deputy director of the Literature and Information Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, read out the Introduction to China’s Nuclear Physics Preprint Platform, which detailed the significance of the exchange of preprints and the construction of the preprint platform in China. Then, Guo Bing, Secretary-General of the Council of the China Nuclear Physics Society, read out the namelist of the Society’s management committee, scientific advisory committee and the first batch of cooperation journals. Finally, representatives of seven cooperation institutions signed on stage and officially launched the China Nuclear Physics Preprint platform. It is expected that this preprint platform can better serve scientific research workers, serve the cause of national science and technology innovation, and enhance China’s discourse power and influence in the field of nuclear physics.

Xu Hushan stated in the conclusion of the Congress that through the joint efforts of all parties concerned, the 18th National Nuclear Physics Congress successfully completed the agenda, with the scale of the conference and the number of reports reaching a record high. This congress exchanged and discussed the latest research achievements in the field of nuclear physics theory, experiment and detection technology and its application in the past three years, which played a positive role in exploring future development directions and frontier issues. The newly elected board members were also announced, as well as the organizers of the next general assembly.

It is reported that the National Nuclear Physics Congress is the largest series of academic conferences in the domestic nuclear physics community sponsored by the Nuclear Physics Society, held once every three years. With the convening of this conference, Huzhou has become a host city of the four major events in the nuclear physics industry, including the National nuclear physics Congress, the National Nuclear Structure Congress, the national nuclear Reaction Congress and the National Intermediate and High Energy Nuclear Physics Congress.