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Following the international open call launched in November 2025, Arts at CERN and the Nobel Prize Museum are pleased to announce that Lithuanian artist Emilija Škarnulytė has been selected as the recipient of the Collide Stockholm residency award. The jury also decided to award two Honorary Mentions to artists Morehshin Allahyari and Wendi Yan.
Collide is Arts at CERN’s flagship residency programme. Each edition is organised in partnership with a leading cultural institution in one of the CERN Member States. Inaugurated in 2025, Collide Stockholm is a two-month international art residency initiated by CERN and the Nobel Prize Museum, which invites artists to reflect on the cultural and societal impact of fundamental science and advanced technologies. The open call attracted a total of 908 applications from artists in 89 countries.
In autumn 2026, Škarnulytė will spend one month at CERN followed by one month at the Nobel Prize Museum to develop a new artwork with the support of the curatorial teams of both institutions.
At CERN, she will begin her project Memory of the Unseen. Her practice is rooted in the exploration of infrastructures that mediate between the visible and the invisible, the human and the post-human, the present and deep time. In dialogue with scientists at CERN, she will engage with event reconstruction, decay signatures, detector sensitivity and the temporal behaviour of experimental data, focusing on what she describes as “thresholds”.
Blending 3D scans, speculative visual sequences and atmospheric sound, she will explore “fragile spaces where the invisible becomes briefly perceptible”: environments such as detector caverns, tunnels, magnetic infrastructures and data-processing systems that enable the detection of particle interactions.
At the Nobel Prize Museum, she will investigate the institution as a site where narratives of scientific discovery enter the cultural sphere and collective memory, through research into archival materials, exhibition strategies and historical narratives.
Chaired by Giulia Bini, Head of Arts at CERN, the jury was composed of Clara Åhlvik, Director of Exhibitions at the Nobel Prize Museum; Daniel Birnbaum, art curator and Professor of Philosophy at the Städelschule in Frankfurt; Ulf Danielsson, Professor of Theoretical Physics and Secretary of the Nobel Committee for Physics; and Helga Timko, an accelerator physicist at CERN and a member of the CERN Cultural Board.
In recognition of the outstanding quality of the proposals, the jury decided to award two Honorary Mentions to the artists Morehshin Allahyari and Wendi Yan.
Morehshin Allahyari’s project, which reconfigures computational machines by drawing on automata from the Islamic Golden Era, revisits histories of technological innovation and mechanical intelligence with imaginative potential and aesthetic vision.
Wendi Yan engages with transcultural narratives in science and technology and with the possibilities of worldbuilding and gaming as poetic tools for historical inquiry and knowledge making. Her transdisciplinary project bridges scholarly depth with current techno-scientific discourses through emerging digital aesthetics.
“Arts at CERN was delighted by the extraordinary number and breadth of the proposals” said Giulia Bini, Head of Arts at CERN. “We look forward to welcoming Emilija Škarnulytė to CERN and to developing this new edition of Collide with the Nobel Prize Museum with a view to providing a fertile ground to reflect on our respective quests for knowledge by fostering artistic visions as a means of inquiry. We express our sincere gratitude to all the artists who applied for this programme.”
“The jury deliberation session at the Nobel Prize Museum was an inspiring gathering that generated rich discussions, confirming the remarkable potential of this new collaboration with Arts at CERN. We congratulate the awardees and look forward to accompanying Emilija Škarnulytė in her exploration of our museum, its history and the stories it preserves,” said Clara Åhlvik, Director of Exhibition at the Nobel Prize Museum.
jharma Tue, 04/28/2026 - 11:23 Publication Date Tue, 04/28/2026 - 11:21On 20 April 2026, another important milestone was reached for the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HiLumi LHC) project, with the start of the electrical powering of the 95-metre-long test stand called the Inner Triplet String (IT String). Following its successful cryogenic cooldown to 1.9 K (‑271.3 °C) a few weeks ago, it will be powered up progressively, circuit by circuit, over the next few weeks.
The IT String is a full-scale test stand that replicates an entire region of the future HiLumi LHC, set to enter into operation in 2030. This ground-breaking accelerator will increase the number of particle collisions (called “luminosity”) by a factor of ten, vastly increasing the volume of physics data available to researchers. Transforming the LHC into a high-luminosity accelerator requires a four-year intensive programme of work that will start this summer. During this time, innovative technologies will be installed in the LHC tunnel, including novel magnet systems – the inner triplet beam-focusing magnets – and the associated complex infrastructure. The test stand is designed to validate this major set of key technologies for the HiLumi LHC.
The IT String brings together all the systems required to operate under nominal conditions, including, of course, the inner triplet magnets, but also powering equipment, in particular an innovative superconducting link, cryogenics, protection systems, the magnet alignment infrastructure and other auxiliary systems. Together, these components form 17 circuits.
“The IT String is the result of many years of research and development and incorporates a wealth of technological innovations. Finally reaching the point where, step by step, each of the complete circuits is switched on marks a decisive milestone for CERN’s HiLumi LHC and for all the teams involved in the project,” explains Markus Zerlauth, HiLumi LHC Project Leader.
The High Order Corrector (HOC) circuits include the very first components to be powered. They are designed to correct the beam parameters and the magnetic field errors of the quadrupole magnets in the inner triplet circuits. The powering will then be carried out progressively, following the same sequence as that planned for the accelerator hardware commissioning of the final HiLumi LHC machine. Initial steps will focus on verification of the powering infrastructure and protection systems, before gradual advancement to the more complex circuits. In the coming weeks, the programme will integrate more components and reach higher levels of current. This staged approach will see the powering of the main inner triplet magnets in June and of the whole installation later this summer, marking a key step in the validation of the full system under operational conditions.
“This project, up to this stage, has been an exciting journey, bringing together members from all departments at CERN. The installation was not without challenges, but each difficulty provided valuable lessons that have since been integrated into improvements of the design and installation procedures,” says Marta Bajko, head of the IT String project. “One of the major issues encountered during installation of the IT String was a leak caused by a component that required further optimisation. Addressing this problem led to a six-month programme of work, which was successfully completed on schedule, allowing us to start testing the powering this week.”
The successful execution of this programme will demonstrate the readiness of the HiLumi LHC inner triplet systems and their associated technologies, paving the way for their installation in the LHC during the imminent Long Shutdown 3 and for the subsequent exciting era of high-luminosity physics.
anschaef Fri, 04/24/2026 - 10:23 Byline Anaïs Schaeffer Publication Date Fri, 04/24/2026 - 10:21Originally derived from a technology developed to explore the fundamental nature of the Universe, Medipix3 technology now powers a medical scanner that is on track to benefit an increased number of patients. MARS Bioimaging Ltd has received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its portable photon-counting CT scanner for upper-limb imaging, allowing the system to enter the US health sector and enable broader clinical adoption.
Medipix technology is based on hybrid pixel detectors, which were originally designed at CERN for particle detection in high-energy physics experiments. This technology was adapted to create the Medipix family of pixel detector readout chips, enabling a new approach to medical imaging.
Unlike conventional CT (computed tomography) systems – which combine X-ray measurements taken from different angles to produce a 3D image – photon-counting technology measures individual X-ray photons and their energy. This produces detailed, three-dimensional images that help clinicians to distinguish between different types of tissue and materials, better informing their decision making. John Carrino, M.D., Vice Chairman for Radiology and Imaging at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, who is involved in clinical trials with MARS Bioimaging, noted: “Photon-counting CT is going to be the future of CT for medical imaging.”
Designed for use outside traditional hospital radiology departments, the MARS Bioimaging Extremity Scanner System can bring this advanced imaging capability into community and point-of-care environments, including outpatient clinics and sports medicine settings. Its recent FDA clearance will not only allow more patients to benefit across the United States, but also help support uptake internationally.
Anthony Butler, Chief Technology Officer at MARS Bioimaging Ltd, recalled: “Phil Butler [his father] had worked at CERN and convinced me that some of the new detectors would be useful in medicine by improving access to high-quality imaging. Twenty years later, with the support of the Medipix Collaboration, we are starting to have a significant impact.”
CERN played an important role in helping move photon-counting techniques from the laboratory to the clinic by hosting a series of workshops. These brought together scientists, engineers, clinicians and industrial partners to develop and exchange expertise and explore new applications. Rafael Ballabriga, Spokesperson for the Medipix3 Collaboration, said: “It is very rewarding to see a technology developed initially for high-energy physics go on to benefit society through medical application.”
A public summary of the 8th Workshop on Medical Applications of Spectroscopic X-ray Detectors will be presented by Anthony Butler at CERN on Friday, 24 April, offering an overview of progress made in the development of photon-counting CT technology.
ehatters Thu, 04/23/2026 - 17:05 Byline Feza Tankut Publication Date Thu, 04/23/2026 - 17:01One of the biggest open questions in particle physics today is how the Higgs boson interacts with itself. This “self-coupling” could help explain the evolution of the early Universe and the mechanism that gives mass to elementary particles. To try to shed light on this fundamental interaction, the ATLAS Collaboration has recently studied one of the “golden” decay channels of a pair of Higgs bosons, where one Higgs boson decays into two photons and the other into a pair of bottom quarks.
By combining the entire LHC Run 2 dataset (2015–2018) and a partial Run 3 dataset (2022–2024), the ATLAS team has significantly enhanced the statistical power of the analysis of this decay channel. The result, just published in Physics Letters B, marks the first ATLAS measurement based on over 300 inverse femtobarns (fb⁻¹) of proton–proton collision data, where one inverse femtobarn corresponds to approximately 100 trillion collisions.
Studying this decay channel is particularly challenging due to the extremely rare nature of Higgs boson pair production – predicted to occur once in a trillion proton–proton collisions – and the significant background from Standard Model processes that mimic this decay mode. To overcome these challenges, ATLAS physicists used advanced data analysis techniques, such as machine learning, to help to isolate the decay signal from the background.
As a result of these advancements and the addition of the partial Run 3 dataset, the ATLAS researchers set more stringent limits than they did before on the signal strength (the observed signal divided by the Standard Model prediction) and two key interaction parameters. These are the magnitude of the Higgs boson’s self-coupling divided by its Standard Model prediction, limited to be between −1.6 and 6.6, and the interaction strength between two Higgs bosons and two vector bosons (W or Z bosons) divided by its Standard Model prediction, limited to be between −0.5 and 2.6.
The results underscore the ATLAS Collaboration’s growing ability to explore Higgs boson pair production in this golden decay channel. They also lay the foundation for future measurements of the Higgs boson’s self-coupling – key to understanding the evolution of the Universe after the Big Bang. With the full Run 3 dataset soon to be available and the High-Luminosity LHC on the horizon, ATLAS is well positioned to push these studies even further – sharpening our understanding of the Higgs boson and exploring potential signs of physics beyond the Standard Model.
Read more on the ATLAS website.
ehatters Wed, 04/22/2026 - 10:17 Byline ATLAS collaboration Publication Date Wed, 04/22/2026 - 10:10Tens of kilometres above Earth’s surface, high-energy particles from outer space constantly strike the atmosphere, creating showers of energetic secondary particles that rain down from the sky. Approximately one of these particles passes through your head every second, but the “cosmic rays” that produce them are still not fully understood. In a recent paper, the ATLAS Collaboration describes how its first measurement of proton–oxygen collisions at the LHC could help us learn more about them.
Cosmic rays were discovered over a century ago by physicist Victor Hess in experiments conducted aboard hot-air balloons. Today, astrophysicists use detectors on the ground to image cosmic-ray showers and computer simulations of the showers to understand that data.
However, these simulations depend on properties of the strong force – one of the fundamental forces of the Universe – which is difficult to accurately model. Current simulations disagree with one another, making it difficult for astrophysicists to interpret their measurements of cosmic rays.
In part to help improve these simulations, the LHC was configured to collide protons with oxygen ions for the first time in July 2025. This meant physicists could study ‘recreated’ cosmic-ray collisions in more detail. The beam of protons acted as a cosmic ray, while the beam of oxygen ions played the role of Earth’s atmosphere, which is composed primarily of nitrogen and oxygen.
The new paper describes how ATLAS physicists analysed these collisions by measuring the tracks left in the experiment from electrically charged particles. They measured key properties of the collision, including how often the particles were created, how many were created, and the energies and angles at which they flew out.
They then compared the measured distributions of charged particles with the numbers predicted by various simulations typically used to interpret data from cosmic-ray observatories. These simulations, which are tuned to reproduce data from previous collisions of protons with heavier nuclei, disagree with one another.
The new ATLAS measurements achieve a precision level of a few percent, significantly improving knowledge of proton–oxygen collisions. Theorists can now use this input to refine their models and help shed more light on the mysterious high-energy particles arriving from our cosmos.
Read more on the ATLAS website.
ehatters Mon, 04/20/2026 - 17:33 Byline ATLAS collaboration Publication Date Tue, 04/21/2026 - 10:29According to our current understanding of the Universe, quarks are fundamental, point-like particles: basic building blocks that are not made up of smaller particles. A recent paper from the CMS Collaboration describes how it probed quarks to the scale of 10-20 metres to test this premise.
At this scale, no evidence of constituent particles was identified, but history shows that structures once considered fundamental can reveal deeper layers: matter was found to consist of molecules, which were then found to be made of atoms, which were in turn found to consist of a dense nucleus surrounded by a cloud of electrons.
Rutherford discovered the nucleus by sending a beam of helium nuclei onto a gold-foil target. These nuclei scattered off the gold atoms of the foil at various angles, which Rutherford then measured. By studying the distribution of the scattering angles, he was able to prove that atoms contained a point-like nucleus at the centre. This was possible because the helium beam in the experimental set-up had enough energy to probe the inside of the atoms.
The nucleus was then shown to be made of protons and neutrons, which were themselves later found to consist of quarks. LHC experiments including CMS are now continuing this quest, colliding particles at extremely high energies to probe the potential inner structure of quarks.
When two beams of protons collide within CMS, they break apart into their constituent quarks. These outgoing quarks become two jets – sprays of particles – that can be measured and used to reconstruct the scattering angle between the quarks.
The distribution of the scattering angle between the two jets can be compared to the distribution that would be expected if the quark was indeed a point-like particle. The recent results from the CMS Collaboration, which were based on data from the second run of the LHC, showed no significant disagreement with the scattering distribution of a point-like quark. This means that quarks are not likely to be larger than 10-20 metres if they are composite structures.
This size estimate is derived from the constraints on the energy scale at which quark ‘compositeness’ reveals itself. For the benchmark model of the recent CMS paper, which assumed that quarks were composite, the recent results set the most stringent limit to date at 37 TeV.
Similarly to how Rutherford was able to identify the components of the atom only because his beam of particles had enough energy, studying particle collisions with higher energies could help us to identify smaller potential structures within quarks. Data from the third run of the LHC and the upcoming High-Luminosity LHC could help to reduce the uncertainties on the measurement of the scattering angle, allowing us to identify even smaller structures and continue the search for the smallest building blocks of matter.
A collision event recorded by the CMS detector with two outgoing jets. (Image: CMS) ehatters Thu, 04/16/2026 - 14:57 Byline CMS collaboration Publication Date Thu, 04/16/2026 - 14:46One of the four missions of CERN is to “train new generations of physicists, engineers and technicians” in a broad area of subjects, topics and themes directly and indirectly linked to their interests, profession and duties. Any good training should make you grow intellectually and grow your skills, should allow you to advance in your career and pimp up your CV for any future professional direction you might strive for. “Food for your brain” is therefore the greatest nutrition for your intellect besides a good morning coffee and an Italian-native Hawaiian pizza. Here is the menu provided by the Computer Security Office.
Starting with the obvious: the all-you-can-eat offerings of the “SecureFlag” online training, whose training platform provides hands-on courses, exercises and virtual environments for improving your skills in secure software development in any programming language(s); for securely configuring your systems, VMs and containers; and for securely operating your web and computing services (demo video). These courses come in many levels of easiness, starting with general beginner sessions and delving deeper for the more experienced and advanced software developers, system administrators and service managers. The Computer Security Office has identified a list of must-do and recommended courses that will assist you in reviewing and/or developing your secure coding practices further. However, “all-you-can-eat” rightly offers you many more courses in the vast “SecureFlag” portfolio for a flat annual fee of less than 500 CHF so you can nurture your brain again and again until next year. Remember that these courses are mandatory for all relevant people as per these two OC5 Subsidiary Rules, so please check out the CERN Learning Hub for full details and to sign up! Enjoy your feast!
This all-you-can-eat buffet is complemented by the very delicious WhiteHat training, which is aimed at webmasters, web application developers and anyone else regularly or irregularly setting up, configuring, managing, publishing or posting dynamic contents on CERN-hosted web servers (and beyond). This two-session training course, the first for the basics and the introduction of homework challenges, and the second to resolve and discuss that homework, is supposed to bring your mind closer to all the traps and pitfalls that make a website insecure, vulnerable and eventually broken – and teach you how to avoid them. New sessions are supposed to come soon, so keep an eye on this Indico agenda or follow our Monthly Report to avoid missing the announcement.
For the more security gourmets among you, the Computer Security Office also provides the “the best technical training that I have ever received at CERN _by far_. I want to warmly thank the teachers/experts very much, _excellent_ work.” – according to one senior staff who participated in the second Forensics & Incident Response training. And the next one is already scheduled: for sysadmins and security professionals managing CERN IT services, involved in the experiments’ IT administration or in WLCG computing, we are offering another hands-on training in Linux digital forensics. Participants will learn techniques for identifying, collecting and analysing digital evidence using open source tools. Through practical exercises and interactive table-top scenarios, attendees will gain confidence in handling security incidents, from initial detection to effective containment and recovery. This two-day event on 11 and 12 June offers an opportunity to explore realistic security incidents and develop the skills for effective response. A few spots are still available...
And, finally, for dessert: the “Zebra Alliance” incident response table-top with an interesting and challenging computer security breach scenario to be solved. This scenario is based on a real incident and will introduce you to the real technical and social challenges when handling large-scale computer security incidents worldwide. The next one is scheduled for Friday, 22 May. Seats are limited, so reserve soon here on Indico. Bon appétit!
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Do you want to learn more about computer security incidents and issues at CERN? Follow our Monthly Report. For further information, questions or help, check our website or contact us at Computer.Security@cern.ch.
anschaef Wed, 04/15/2026 - 11:45 Byline Computer Security Office Publication Date Wed, 04/15/2026 - 11:43
Beyond 25 by ’25
Following the successful conclusion of “25 by ’25” at the end of 2025, the Diversity & Inclusion (“D&I”) Programme is now building on this momentum by launching a new D&I initiative for CERN: “Inclusion Matters.”
With “25 by ’25”, CERN committed to strengthening gender and nationality diversity through a first-time aspirational target. “Inclusion Matters.” will continue to strengthen and retain this diversity while fostering a strong sense of belonging across the CERN community.
A call to contribute
Inspired by the Director-General’s vision for CERN as “a beacon of inclusivity in science, where diversity in all its forms can thrive”, the new initiative invites members of the CERN community to propose practical solutions for an even more inclusive workplace by 2030.
50 actions. 5 years. One shared commitment.
“Inclusion Matters.” contains an Organization-wide goal to deliver 50 visible and tangible inclusion actions over the 2026–2030 mandate, with 10 actions committed to each year, at a rhythm of roughly one per month, collectively referred to as “50 Inc.”. Each action, however small, is intended to make a meaningful difference to at least one community or individual, with the cumulative effect strengthening inclusion across CERN.
What do “inclusion actions” look like?
Inclusion-orientated actions for the first months of 2026 include:
How can I contribute?
Members of the CERN community will be invited to submit 50 Inc. action proposals via an online ticketing form as of mid-May.
In reviewing proposals, the newly established Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Oversight Board (D&I Board) will assess the diversity of actions, of beneficiary communities and of implementing services, as well as considering feasibility, benchmarking and strategic alignment. The D&I Board will also take into account perspectives from the departmental D&I Officers, diversity networks and D&I contact points within the experiment collaborations. This input will be coordinated, consolidated and presented to the D&I Board by the D&I Programme Advisers.
Progress on actions toward 50 Inc. will be tracked through an online dashboard.
Colleagues are encouraged to gather practical ideas that could further inclusion in everyday working life at CERN.
Click here to contribute your 50 Inc. action proposal: Inclusion Matters. I Diversity & Inclusion Programme
anschaef Wed, 04/15/2026 - 11:31 Byline Daniela Antonio Publication Date Wed, 04/15/2026 - 11:31The LHC has successfully reached its nominal Run 3 performance, marking an important milestone in the 2026 physics programme. The intensity ramp-up phase was completed at the end of March, with the machine routinely operating at 1.8×10¹¹ protons per bunch in each beam. Following this achievement, the LHC entered a period of stable physics production for about a week, during which the machine delivered performance that significantly exceeded expectations (see figure).
Luminosity delivered to ATLAS and CMS. (Image: CERN)
After this initial high-performance period, the LHC has now entered a dedicated three-week run with reduced pile-up conditions, which means a lower average number of collisions per bunch crossing (the so-called low-μ run). This special mode of operation is an integral part of the 2026 proton–proton physics programme and has been requested by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations to allow them to perform high-precision measurements under optimised experimental conditions.
In standard LHC operation, each bunch crossing typically results in around 64 simultaneous proton–proton interactions. By contrast, the number of interactions per crossing is significantly reduced during the low-μ run. These conditions provide a much cleaner experimental environment, allowing improved control of detector effects and a significant reduction of background noise. Owing to the reduced collision rate, this mode of operation involves particularly long fills lasting up to 50 consecutive hours.
This dedicated data-taking period is primarily motivated by the goal of high-precision measurement of the W boson mass. Achieving the target level of precision requires excellent control of the collision reconstruction, in particular for the hadronic recoil and the missing transverse energy, both of which are significantly improved in low-pile-up conditions. More broadly, the low-μ dataset will also enable a wide range of precision measurements, including studies of electroweak, heavy-flavour and diffractive physics.
A dedicated Van der Meer (VdM) run to provide data for absolute luminosity calibration was initially scheduled to take place during this period. The VdM method consists of transversely sweeping the two beams across each other while measuring the collision rate as a function of their relative displacement. This allows a precise determination of the absolute luminosity scale, ensuring that all subsequent measurements can be normalised with high accuracy.
Such calibration runs require specially prepared beams, with well-defined transverse profiles and controlled intensities. Producing these beams involves a dedicated scheme across the entire injector chain. In the PS Booster, this includes techniques such as controlled tune settings, multiple scattering on the stripping foil and adjustments of the injection trajectory. The beam is then transferred to the PS, where injection oscillations must be carefully minimised. Finally, in the SPS, a dedicated manipulation known as “shaving” is applied to shape the beam distribution before injection into the LHC. These preparatory steps typically require several days of dedicated beam time ahead of the calibration run itself.
However, an unforeseen issue in the LHC cryogenic infrastructure has required a short interruption of operations. One of the warm screw compressors in the station at Point 18, which had already shown elevated vibration levels in recent weeks, exhibited signs of rapidly evolving bearing degradation. In the last few days, the vibration levels increased further and became less stable, indicating a growing risk of significant damage.
To mitigate this risk and protect the integrity of the compressor station, it was decided to bring forward the replacement of the unit, which had originally been planned for the technical stop in May. This intervention was performed early this week, resulting in a three-day stop of the LHC.
Meanwhile, in the injector chain, the availability of the PS was impacted by a major fault affecting the main power supply (POPS). The issue, involving communication and controller failures, required significant intervention by the power converters team. Operation was restored after component replacement and diagnostics. While the root cause is still under investigation, the event highlights the ageing of critical components and the importance of the planned POPS+ upgrade during LS3.
Despite these interruptions, the overall performance of the accelerator complex remains excellent. With nominal intensity reached and dedicated physics runs under way, the 2026 LHC programme is now fully in motion, with further key milestones expected in the coming weeks.
anschaef Wed, 04/15/2026 - 10:59 Byline Matteo Solfaroli, Deputy Leader of the Operations Group (BE-OP) Publication Date Wed, 04/15/2026 - 10:56
For its 2026 edition, Beamline for Schools (BL4S) has received 712 submissions, involving 4051 students from 89 countries, the highest number of applications since its creation in 2014. This represents a 40% increase compared to the 2025 edition and the highest ever number of countries participating. Since the launch of the competition, more than 28 000 students have submitted research proposals. The selection process is ongoing, and the winning teams will be announced in May, so stay tuned!
Beamline for Schools is an education and outreach project, funded by the CERN & Society Foundation, that started in 2014 in the context of CERN’s 60th anniversary. Multiple teams of high-school students propose an experiment to be performed on a beamline at CERN, DESY or ELSA (University of Bonn) – an experience designed to inspire the scientists of tomorrow to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The winning teams have the opportunity to run their experiment like true physicists, immersed in a cutting-edge physics environment in one of the three laboratories.
“High-school students are very creative, and the proposed experiments grow each year in complexity, creativity and technicality”, says Jorge Villa, school and students programmes manager at CERN. Previous winners have explored a wide range of scientific topics, from the development of two-dimensional detectors and three-dimensional muon detectors using scintillator encoding, to the use of Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM)-on-tile muon calorimeters for high-altitude applications and multi-wire proportional chambers. Some teams have worked on beam diagnostics in CERN’s East Area, leading to remarkable results. Experiments related to particle beam interactions and radiation studies like spallation and? transition radiation in multi-layered dielectric–metallic targets have also been carried out. “We regularly review and update the pool of detectors available to the students, to give them the best tools for their experiments. Right now, we are working on integrating MicroMegas and Timepix detectors into our experimental setup”, says Markus Joos, BL4S technical coordinator at CERN. The competition has led to scientific publications, educational publications and contributions in international conferences and workshops (see here).
This competition is only possible thanks to the many volunteers at CERN, DESY and ELSA. A huge thanks to all of them!
Join the BL4S team!
Marteen van Dijk (BE Department) gives a lecture on Cherenkov detectors at CERN during the 2025 edition of BL4S. (Image: CERN)Members of the CERN community are more than welcome to join the Beamline for Schools team.
BL4S exists thanks to the many volunteers who help throughout the year in many ways, such as reviewing the proposals to select the winning teams (in March 2026, 40 volunteers contributed to the review of 712 proposals), taking part in online events to present their research and experiments to the students, helping with data analysis when the winning teams are at CERN or acting as regional contacts for students of the same native language.
For the 2026 edition, additional support will be required in August for data analysis activities and after the summer for online events and national contact activities.
Go to cern.ch/bl4s to find out more. For more information about volunteering, subscribe to bl4s-volunteers-pool. You can also send an email to beamline.4.schools@cern.ch, and we will be happy to get back to you to discuss the different volunteering options.
With the increasing number of proposals, we will need more volunteers, in particular to evaluate the proposed experiments and select the winning teams. Come and join us – be part of an amazing initiative that has a worldwide impact on the education of high-school students.
anschaef Wed, 04/15/2026 - 10:39 Byline Jorge Villa Publication Date Mon, 04/20/2026 - 10:36
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