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A. P. Shpak,
First Vice-President - Chief
Scientific Secretary of the Academy

        In 2001, the NAS Presidium aimed its efforts primarily at supporting leading academic schools, strengthening the potential of research personnel, improving the technical backing to research and continued to improve the network and structures of the Academy's science institutions. In the year under review, research teams obtained a number of high-class results in fundamental and applied science.
        An annual session of the NAS General Meeting and a joint celebration meeting of the NAS, AMS and Ministry of Health were held to commemorate the 120-th anniversary of an outstanding Ukrainian scholar O.O.Bohomolets.
        An event of great significance was the annual session of the NAS General Meeting, held on April 6 and attended by the President of Ukraine L.D.Kuchma, leaders of the Verkhovna Rada and the Government of Ukraine, representatives of academic community. The session heard the annual report of the NAS President academician B.E.Paton on the main results of Academy's activities in 2000 and discussed a series of organizational issues. The report, the speech of the President of Ukraine L.D.Kuchma, presentations of the Meeting participants emphasized that, given certain improvement of the economic situation in the nation, scholarly backing to social and economic transformations, development of academically substantiated mechanisms of ensuring sustainable economic growth and transition to the innovative model of social development were gaining even greater importance. The NAS Presidium gave continuous attention to the state support of the cutting-edge trends of fundamental and applied research, new forms of science organization and its material and technical backing -to setting up a system of R&D facility pools. In particular, on September 3, 2001, the Prime-Minister of Ukraine A.K.Kinakh met with academic community -members of the NAS of Ukraine, Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Agrarian Academy in the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics. Proceeding from the results of the meeting, assignments were given to respective ministries and agencies to ensure the resolution of the problems considered.
        In accordance with the decision of the Presidium, NAS institutions took an active part in preparing and holding events concerned with celebrating the 10-th anniversary of Ukraine's independence. Thus, the Academy organized a number of academic and practical conferences, round-table talks, competitions for the best research work on the history of Ukrainian independence and the best historical study covering the events of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 in Ukraine. Winners of those competitions were awarded NAS prizes for the best research work on the history of struggle for Ukraine's independence and development of the Ukrainian statehood.
        The leading role in the NAS activities belonged to issues of cooperation with industrial ministries and agencies. E.g., the Academy, jointly with the Board of the Ministry for Emergencies and Protecting the Population from the Chornobyl Catastrophe Impact, considered the status of natural and technogenic safety in Ukraine, proposed basic directions of the state policy in population protection from emergencies of technogenic and natural character. Together with the Board of the Ministry for Education and Science, we analyzed issues of the legal protection of inventions and other objects of industrial property, entered into a respective agreement on cooperation between the NAS of Ukraine and the Ministry.
        The Presidium focused on developing NAS business cooperation with industrial enterprises and organizations of Kyiv, as well of those of other regions of Ukraine. A joint session of the Kyiv City State Administration and the NAS Presidium discussed results of implementing the Agreement and Program of cooperation in 1998-2000 and approved principal directions of the 2001-2004 Program of cooperation. It approved a decision concerning the Academy participation in working out and implementing the Program of developing science and engineering in the Donetsk oblast out to 2020.
        Active was the discussion of fundamental research results by the NAS Presidium. In particular, it heard presentations on priority problems of mathematics, information science, super-low-temperature physics, space-research development, compiling the National Atlas of Ukraine, raising the productivity of farming crops, issues of sociology, history, ethnology, linguistic geography of Ukraine. The Presidium analyzed the research and research-organizing activities of 12 Academy institutions, which stimulated high-priority studies and enhanced their efficiency.
        To give actual support to young researchers, reduce 'brain-drain', the Presidium adopted a resolution 'On the status and priority measures to attract and accommodate young researchers in the NAS of Ukraine', stating the top-priority tasks in this sphere.
        The Presidium gave continuous attention to issues related to mitigating the Chornobyl disaster impact. The results of the 15-year work to overcome the aftermath of the catastrophe were discussed, as well as various aspects of scientific backing to the plant decommissioning.
An important trend in the Presidium's activities was the coordination and practical implementation of the NAS commitments under recent international agreements with foreign research institutions and organizations. Considerable efforts went into raising the efficiency of such collaboration.
        Presidium meetings considered topical issues of the activities of the International Association of the Academies of Sciences (IAAS), identified measures to increase its role in developing international science collaboration, solving problems of science, education and information exchange. Thus, in accordance with the IAAS Council's decision and with UNESCO participation, an international symposium The role of international organizations in developing European science and technology space' was held in Kyiv and it was highly appreciated by the European science community. The forum was attended by representatives of such renowned international organizations as INTAS, the European Commission, the European Federation of National Academies of Sciences, URDC, as well as the heads of some academies of sciences of the CIS countries, those of East and Central Europe.
        Academy scholars took part in implementing joint research under 50 bilateral inter-academy agreements with research institutions of 39 countries. A number of large-scale international conferences were held in Ukraine. Nearly 1000 researchers of the Academy attended science conferences, symposia, consultative meetings held abroad.
        A considerable place in the international joint research belonged to collaboration with the CIS countries, primarily with Russia and Belarus. The visit of the delegation of the Belarus NAS to Kyiv resulted in the renewal of the Collaboration agreement and approving the list of joint research projects. Work on implementing agreements of R&D collaboration between NAS of Ukraine and Governments of Moscow and the Moscow oblast was launched.
        Academic ties with international organizations were strengthened, in particular, those with UNESCO, Organization for Black-Sea Economic Cooperation, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis, European Commission on Science and Technology.
        Good prospects for further development of international collaboration are opened up by the Agreement between the UNO Program of Development and the NAS of Ukraine, concluded in the year under review, providing for collaboration in implementing the project of technological information exchange in Ukraine.