This workshop dates back to the 1960-s when Academician E.L. Andronikashvili, the first chairman of the "Radiation Physics of Solids" Research Board (USSR Academy of Science), started up a series of annual workshops in Bakuriani, Georgia, thus establishing a tradition which was further upheld by Professor Naskidashvili upon E.L. Andronikashvili's decease.

After breakup of the USSR and, consequently, of the "Radiation Physics of Solids" Research Board  in 1989, workshops were no longer held till 1993 when it became obvious that a special body is essential to coordinate scientific activities in the area of radiation physics, since its fundamental challenges still continued to exist. So in 1993, a "Radiation Physics of Solids" Research Board resumed its activities in the Russian Academy of Sciences at the initiative and under the guidance of B.N. Goshchitsky, corresponding member of the RAS. Naturally, organization of a dedicated workshop to discuss recent research results and key issues of solid-state physics was the top-priority task for the Board. V.F. Khokhryakov represented VNIITF in the "Radiation Physics of Solids" Research Board from 1994 to 2003 acting as permanent Vice-Chairman of the workshop’s organizing committee.

It is worthwhile to mention that the implementation of this idea was mostly favoured by the establishment of the International Scientific and Technical Center in 1994 under the aegis of Minatom and the subsequent start of ISTC Project #019 in December 1994 involving VNIITF, Institute for Physics of Metals, VNIINM named after A.A. Bochvar, and MEPhI. Considering huge scope of work concerning radiation physics within this project, B.N. Goshchitsky suggested to organize a particular radiation workshop and name it the I^st Ural one with a view to the future. VNIITF, namely E.N. Avrorin, Scientific Director, and V.Z. Nechay, Director, supported that idea, and the first Ural Workshop was organized in February 1995. The workshop became traditional being held biennially. Such regularity is conditioned by continuous progress in radiation physics. The XIII^th International Ural Workshop was held in 2019.

Currently the Workshop is held by two institutes, RFNC-VNIITF and Institute of Metal Physics (Ekaterinburg, Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences), and  the Organizing Committee is chaired by Evgeny Avrorin, RAS Member, and Boris Goshchitsky, RAS Corresponding Member, respectively. The biannual one-week Seminar is  traditionally held in February at the “Dalnyaya Dacha” health resort near Kyshtym, Chelyabinsk region. Duration of the Seminar is about one week.  Among the topics discussed at the Workshop are:

• General problems of radiation damage physics;
• Materials for nuclear and thermonuclear power engineering;
• Advanced materials exploration with neutrons, X-ray and bulk measurements;
• Radiation effects in magnets, superconductors, semiconductors and insulators;
• Radiation technologies in development of materials with preset properties;
• Facilities and techniques of experiment

A “Newbies’ school”, a forum for young scientists and engineers reporting their first results, also works in all these fields.
Scientists and engineers from Russian academic and industry communities take part in the Workshops as well as researchers from Europe and the USA.