An open letter to Oleg’s memory

Dear Colleagues,

Dear Friends,

it was with immense sadness that I learned of the passing of our friend Oleg Shatberashvili, which occurred earlier this year. Due to the pandemic and the ensuing lack of communication between us and ESIDG, we did not realise that such a tragic event had occurred. A few days ago, we were informed that after a sudden illness, Oleg passed away on April 20. We all remember Oleg in our TRIGGER meetings. He was always eager to interact with us, and had taken steps to organize a very nice event in Georgia, which unfortunately never took place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We still plan to hold such an event in 2022, also to honour the memory of Oleg and the nice time spent together since 2018, when we started TRIGGER.

I have very nice memories of my moments with Oleg. He was very interested in fostering research mobility between the Eastern neighbourhood countries and the EU. He had started his career by specialising in laser physics, and had several fantastic anecdotes from Soviet times in Georgia, which he was always ready to share in convivial occasions such as our TRIGGER events. Last time we saw Oleg was in March 2020 when he joined our review meeting, and later the CEPS Ideas Lab. I attach four pictures I have with him: one from the kickoff meeting, one from our meeting in Fiesole in December 2019, and two from the nice dinner we had with him and Sara, Moritz, Ada and Daniela in Sablon after a successful TRIGGER session at the Ideas Lab. Moules et frites for everybody, coupled with nice Belgian beer.

The whole TRIGGER community, I am sure, will be sad to hear that Oleg is no longer with us. As Coordinator of the project, I wish to express our deepest condolences to his family. He had a long and interesting life. I saw him as a wise, accomplished human being. May this be a partial consolation in this time of grief.

Sincerely,

Andrea Renda, CEPS (Coordinator of TRIGGER project)

Aaron Rosa, FRAUNHOFER ISI

Diletta Di Marco, POLIMI

Francesca Cecchin, CEPS

Gaby Umbach, EUI

Jyldyz Bakashova, EIMO

Klaus Jacob, FUB

Marco Brambilla, POLIMI

Marie-Valentine Florin, EPFL

Moritz Laurer, CEPS

Olga Glumac, SPI