The workshop will focus on the physics addressed in hadron and nuclear collisions at center of mass energies in the GeV or multi-GeV range.
In particular, the following topics will be discussed:
- QCD phase diagram and critical point
- Cold, hot and dense matter
- Short-range correlations
- Long-range correlations
- Onset of deconfinement and chiral symmetry restoration
- Experimental facilities and detectors
The study of the strongly interacting Quark Gluon Plasma performed at the high energies available at RHIC and LHC is now been extended into lower energies with the BES (Beam Energy Scan) program planned at RHIC and the two large facilities under construction, FAIR at Darmstadt and NICA at JINR, Dubna. The NICA complex will provide beams from protons up to Au at energies 
sNN = 2- 11 GeV in the nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass system. This energy range is of particular interest as it ideally covers the region where the physics of maximum baryon density can be probed and where two important open questions in the study of high-density QCD matter can be explored, the search for the existence of a critical point and the onset of deconfinement and chiral symmetry restoration. The workshop will also focus on the window of opportunity offered by the high intensity 1-13.6 GeV/c proton beams that will be available at NICA for fixed-target experiments to perform exclusive short-range correlation studies, to study the short range structure of nuclei and other nuclear systems with density higher than the saturation density in nuclei.
