{"id":95,"date":"2023-11-29T16:00:53","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T15:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/physicsworld.com\/?p=111548"},"modified":"2023-11-29T16:00:53","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T15:00:53","slug":"ireland-set-to-join-the-cern-particle-physics-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hadamard.com\/c\/ireland-set-to-join-the-cern-particle-physics-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland set to join the CERN particle-physics lab"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Irish government has finally applied to join the CERN particle-physics laboratory<\/a> near Geneva as an associate member. The application will be considered at CERN\u2019s next council session in mid-December.<\/p>\n

n<\/p>\n

CERN has 23 full member states<\/a> with Cyprus, Estonia and Slovenia applying for that status too. Member countries pay costs towards CERN\u2019s programmes and have representation on the CERN council. The lab currently has seven associate member countries, with Brazil on track to become the next associate member and Chile in the early stages of applying.<\/p>\n

nn<\/p>\n

In announcing its application to join CERN<\/a>, the Irish government says that associate membership will open doors for Ireland\u2019s researchers and technicians, making them eligible for staff positions and fellowships at CERN, as well as for training schemes. Irish companies will also have greater access to CERN procurement programmes.<\/p>\n

n<\/p>\n

The cost of full membership for Ireland would be around \u20ac15.9m each year, with associate membership set at a minimum of 10% of that, or \u20ac1.59m per year. Ireland may, though, recoup some of that cost through industry contracts, CERN positions and through training and education. The Irish government also approved an additional \u20ac300,000 per year for Irish researchers and teachers to participate in CERN programmes.<\/p>\n

n<\/p>\n

Ireland has long debated whether to join CERN, with scientists in Ireland already playing a part in CERN experiments such as LHCb, CMS and ISOLDE, the lab\u2019s isotope mass separator facility. A turning point towards joining the lab came in 2019 when a cross-party Irish parliamentary committee recommended the move<\/a>. It warned that Ireland\u2019s attractiveness to hi-tech companies and its claims to be a \u201cknowledge economy\u201d could be damaged by its absence from CERN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

n<\/p>\n

\n

This sends a strong message about the government\u2019s intentions to invest in fundamental science<\/p>\n

nLewys Jones<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

n<\/p>\n

Sin\u00e9ad Ryan<\/a>, a theoretical physicist in Trinity College Dublin and leading advocate for membership, believes that Ireland\u2019s membership will be \u201ctransformational\u201d for science and particle physics in the country. \u201cThe associate membership track allows you to dial up your commitment and dial it back down again as you need to,\u201d she says, adding that previous involvement with CERN for scientists in Ireland relied on informal relationships and \u201cthe generosity of colleagues outside of Ireland\u201d.<\/p>\n

n<\/p>\n

Enda McGlynn<\/a>, a particle physicist at Dublin City University, who previously worked at ISOLDE, says that physicists from Ireland always had to partner with groups from member states to participate in lab activities. This, he says, made it difficult \u201cto create a sustained research agenda that we could pursue ourselves\u201d. McGlynn hopes that associate membership will now give fresh impetus for improved fundamental research funding in the country.<\/p>\n

n<\/p>\n

The wider Irish physics community has welcomed the news too. \u201cThis sends a strong message about the government\u2019s intentions to invest in fundamental science,\u201d says Lewys Jones<\/a>, a physicist at Trinity College Dublin.\u00a0 \u201cIt demonstrates a welcome shift in ambition for a small country to contribute to this big project.\u201d<\/p>\n

n<\/p>\n

CERN is likely to send a task force to Ireland early next year with accession then being considered by CERN’s council in mid-2024. If all goes well, the process could be complete by the end of 2024.<\/p>\n

n<\/p>\n

Yet any hopes that CERN will become a fully fledged member may have to wait. A spokesperson for Ireland\u2019s department of science, innovation and education told Physics World<\/em> that the government will review membership status after five years from taking it up \u201cto determine Ireland\u2019s future relationship with CERN\u201d.<\/p>\n

n<\/p>\n

The post Ireland set to join the CERN particle-physics lab<\/a> appeared first on Physics World<\/a>.<\/p>\n

n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Irish government has finally applied to join the CERN particle-physics laboratory near Geneva as an associate member. The application will be considered at CERN\u2019s next council session in mid-December. n CERN has 23 full member states with Cyprus, Estonia and Slovenia applying for that status too. Member countries pay costs towards CERN\u2019s programmes and… Continue reading Ireland set to join the CERN particle-physics lab<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hadamard.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hadamard.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hadamard.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hadamard.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hadamard.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hadamard.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hadamard.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hadamard.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hadamard.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}