On November 7–8, the fifth NAUKA 0+ International Festival, organized as part of the BRICS+ Open Science Week, is taking place in Uzbekistan. For the first time, popular science and educational events are being held not only in Tashkent, but also in all regions of the country. The Polytechnic Museum has become the central venue of the capital's program.
Visitors were treated to about 70 popular science lectures, interactive exhibitions with a total area of over 2,000 m² across 20 venues, master classes, quizzes, and science shows. The main theme of this year's festival is “Your Cosmic Universe,” dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the first human space flight. The organizers were the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation and Moscow State University, supported by the Russian and Uzbek Academies of Sciences.
For the first time in the country, the “Scientists of the Future” competition was also held, with preliminary stages taking place in specialized schools across all regions. In the finals at the branch of Moscow State University in Tashkent, more than 100 schoolchildren from Russia, Uzbekistan, and other countries presented their developments to experts from universities and businesses. Among the festival participants were leading scientific and educational institutions of the two countries, as well as technology companies. The program included presentations by scientists on viruses in space, gamma-ray bursts, and the use of virtual reality in cosmonaut training.