Rector of the University of Ljubljana Visits CERN on the First Anniversary of Slovenia’s Membership

Particular attention was given to the possibilities of further strengthening the cooperation between UL and CERN. Discussions focused on additional opportunities for Slovenian research groups to participate in international experiments, as well as the integration of young researchers into training and exchange programmes. Indeed, Slovenia's full membership of CERN also enables UL scientists from other disciplines - most notably mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer science - to contribute to the development of future experiments.

Slovenian physicists have been collaborating with CERN since 1975, when they joined the OMICRON experiment under the leadership of Prof. Dr Gabrijel Kernel. Over the following 50 years, they successfully participated in a series of experiments at CERN, the most prominent of which were CPLEAR and DELPHI. Today, they are conducting research as part of the ATLAS and LHCb experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In addition, both experimental and theoretical particle physicists from Slovenia remain active at CERN.

Slovenian scientists also played an important role in the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012. The next major challenge is to address several open questions about our universe – such as the nature of dark matter, why there is far more matter than antimatter in the cosmos, and other fundamental queries. To this end, Slovenian researchers are participating in the upgrade of the ATLAS experiment and the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) project, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2030. They are also involved in the development of the next-generation accelerator, the Future Circular Collider (FCC-ee), which is expected to enter service at CERN in about 15 years.

The visit took place at the initiative of researchers from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the University of Ljubljana (UL FMF), Slovenia’s leading research institution in the field of particle physics. The purpose of the visit was to consolidate and further strengthen collaboration between UL and CERN and to establish new links with a view to extending this collaboration to other scientific and technological fields, such as electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, information technology and related disciplines, in which leading researchers and experts at UL are also active.

The delegation comprised senior representatives of UL and UL FMF: alongside the Rector, Vice-Rector Prof. Dr Gregor Dolinar, Dean of UL FMF Prof. Dr Emil Žagar, Vice-Deans Prof. Dr Miha Ravnik and Prof. Dr Jernej Fesel Kamenik, Head of the Experimental Particle Physics Research Programme Prof. Dr Borut Paul Kerševan, and Prof. Dr Marko Mikuž, head of the Slovenian research community at CERN, member of the CERN Council and one of the key figures in Slovenia’s long-standing collaboration with CERN.

The visit represents a first step towards the planned deepening of collaboration between the University of Ljubljana and CERN and provides an important foundation for the development of new joint research, educational and development projects.