| Welcome to the EU Projects @ CERN newsletter |
|
In this edition, we look at the high number of proposals submitted this year for funding under the Research Infrastructures and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions calls. We also have an article on CERN's first-ever winner of a European Research Council Synergy Grant.
Elsewhere, read about the successful closing conference of the ATTRACT project, and find out more about the HEARTS project's second pilot industrial user run at CERN.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Highest number of RI and MSCA proposal submissions in Horizon Europe to date |
| CERN is involved in 17 proposals, six as a coordinator and 11 as a beneficiary, for funding under this year’s Research Infrastructures calls – the highest number since Horizon Europe started in 2021. It is a similar story for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)’s Doctoral Network scheme, with CERN joining 11 proposals, two as a coordinator and nine as a beneficiary. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chiara Caprini is the first CERN staff member to be awarded a prestigious Synergy Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The grant supports small teams of interdisciplinary researchers who come together to combine their expertise and resources to push the boundaries of scientific knowledge.
Caprini’s project, called COSMOMAG, aims to study the first few microseconds of our universe by tracing the evolution of cosmic magnetism back through time to its origins.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ATTRACT project marks successful close |
The ATTRACT project, a pilot scheme set up in 2018 to help turn world-class scientific research in Europe into commercial innovation, came to a close this year.
The project is led by CERN and involves eight other European scientific organisations.
It has over the years supported 18 projects, which has led to the creation of eight startups, several of which have entered second-round private financing. On top of this, the ATTRACT Academy trained over 1300 young European innovators, contributing to the development of the next generation of deep-tech entrepreneurs.
At a final event held in Brussels in July, Jean-David Malo, acting director of ERA and Innovation at the European Commission’s research directorate, described ATTRACT as a “source of potential gems on which we should build”.
The ATTRACT team has submitted a proposal for funding to continue the project. |
|
|
|
|
|
| HEARTS completes second industrial user campaign at CERN |
The HEARTS project welcomed 16 teams from private companies and research institutes to CERN this November and December to test various electronic modules and components for radiation effects to qualify them for use in space.
This is the second industrial user pilot campaign following last year’s run, which involves offering companies paid, proprietary beamtime access to carry out radiation tests.
In total, six of the users paid for access, while the rest either received beamtime hours through their association with the project or by applying through the RADNEXT project, which offers transnational access to radiation facilities in Europe.
The HEARTS@CERN set up is located at CERN’s IRRAD facility. Every year for a period of a few weeks, CERN injects the Large Hadron Collider with heavy, lead ions. The HEARTS@CERN project takes advantage of this period to use the lead ions for radiation effects testing.
CERN’s facility is unique in Europe in being able to offer very-high energy, heavy ion electronics testing, meaning teams can see how their electronics hold up against particularly strong and penetrative radiation that they could be exposed to in space.
Results from this user run and more information will be published on the HEARTS website in the coming weeks. |
|
|
|
|
|
| New ERC Starting Grant winner |
| CERN’s near-neighbour ETH Zürich has published a short summary about Particle physicist Thea Klaeboe Aarrestad and her work with the Large Hadron Collider’s CMS detector team. Klaeboe Aarrestad was recently awarded an ERC Starting Grant to develop new methods to analyse data generated from collisions recorded by CMS. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
