The Czech Republic joins FAIR as an aspirant partner
09. 04. 2019
The European large research infrastructure FAIR GmbH and the Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (NPI) signed the Agreement about Aspirant Partnership of the Czech Republic in the FAIR. The signing ceremony was held at the FAIR campus in Darmstadt, Germany. The NPI has been delegated by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport to represent the Czech Republic in FAIR and to coordinate the work of the Czech scientific community contributing to FAIR.
FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) is an international research project whose centerpiece – a unique particle accelerator – is currently under construction. The company FAIR GmbH, founded in 2010, is tasked with coordination of the accelerator’s construction. Aside from Germany, other countries participating on the project are Finland, France, India, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Great Britain.
“Aspirant partner,” a new type of participation, is offered to new countries interested in being part of FAIR a progressive path to membership. FAIR Council, the shareholders’ meeting of FAIR GmbH, has created it in 2017 and decided in December 2018 to recognise the Czech Republic as the first FAIR “aspirant partner.”
The contract has been signed by the managing directors of GSI and FAIR Paolo Giubellino, Ursula Weyrich and Jörg Blaurock, as well as by Petr Lukáš, Director of the Nuclear Physics Institute of the CAS. Czech partners in the FAIR-CZ consortium – represented by Vojtěch Petráček, Rector of the Czech Technical University in Prague; Gabriel Török, Vice-Rector of the Silesian University in Opava; Jan Kratochvíl, Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University; Vladimír Baumruk, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University; and Andrej Kugler, large research infrastructure FAIR-CZ coordinator – took part at the signing as well.
From left to right: Jörg Blaurock, Ursula Weyrich, Paolo Giubellino, Petr Lukáš
“It is a great pleasure for us to become partner of FAIR with its worldwide unique research opportunities. The new agreement paves the way to a strong long-term collaboration between the Czech research community and FAIR. The membership will further intensify relationships of our scientists with GSI and FAIR and create opportunities for an even more fruitful cooperation in areas such as research, education and innovation,” said NPI Director Petr Lukáš.
“I am extremely pleased that we can warmly welcome the Czech Republic as our new partner state. The partnership can build on a long-standing, very good working collaboration between Czech research institutions and GSI/FAIR. Researchers from the Czech Republic are already making excellent contributions in a variety of scientific and technical fields at GSI and FAIR,” said Paolo Giubellino, Scientific Managing Director at GSI and FAIR.
Czech scientists are involved, for example, in the large detector HADES and in nuclear astrophysics as well as in developments and research for the CBM and PANDA experiments. They are active in all 4 FAIR research pillars, and intend to also contribute to the construction of components for the FAIR accelerators. The commitment of the Czech scientific community to FAIR is growing rapidly. In 2016, 37 scientists from four scientific institutions in the Czech Republic worked on topics related to the FAIR project, this year it will be more than 60 from six scientific institutions.
Prepared by: Petr Lukáš, Nuclear Physics Institute of the CAS, in cooperation with Milan Pohl, Department of Media Communication of the Head Office of the CAS
Photo: GSI/FAIR
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The Czech Academy of Sciences (the CAS)
The mission of the CAS
The primary mission of the CAS is to conduct research in a broad spectrum of natural, technical and social sciences as well as humanities. This research aims to advance progress of scientific knowledge at the international level, considering, however, the specific needs of the Czech society and the national culture.
President of the CAS
Prof. Eva Zažímalová has started her second term of office in May 2021. She is a respected scientist, and a Professor of Plant Anatomy and Physiology.
She is also a part of GCSA of the EU.