Aerial view of CERN site of Meyrin and Globe of Innovation. Date: 03 May 2012 Courtesy of CERN PhotoLab / Jean-Claude Rifflard

Geneva, Switzerland - September 20, 2012

CERN Council today elected Professor Agnieszka Zalewska as its 21st President for a period of one year renewable twice, with a mandate starting on 1 January 2013.

Professor Zalewska takes over from Michel Spiro who comes to the conclusion of his three-year term at the end of December.

Agnieszka Zalewska is the first woman and the first Polish physicist to fill this position.

Aerial view of CERN site of Meyrin and Globe of Innovation. Date: 03 May 2012 Courtesy of CERN PhotoLab / Jean-Claude Rifflard

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics.

It has its headquarters in Geneva.

At present, its member states are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Romania is a candidate for accession.

Israel and Serbia are associate members in the pre-stage to membership.

India, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have observer status.

Professor Michel Spiro Courtesy of CERN PhotoLab / Maximilien Brice

"I feel particularly honoured to have presided over the CERN Council through a period that has seen the first major results from the LHC," said Professor Spiro.
"But we are just at the start, so while warmly thanking CERN management and personnel for the last three years, I'd like to wish Professor Zalewska all the very best as the LHC adventure continues to unfold."

Professor Agnieszka Zalewska Courtesy of CERN

Agnieszka Zalewska is a Professor at the H. Niewodniczański Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Krakow, Poland.

She has a distinguished career in particle physics and a long association with CERN.

Aerial view of CERN site of Meyrin and Globe of Innovation. Date: 03 May 2012 Courtesy of CERN PhotoLab / Jean-Claude Rifflard

She received her doctorate in 1975 from the Jagellonian University, Krakow, for work carried out on bubble chamber data from an experiment at CERN.

Aerial view of CERN site of Meyrin and Globe of Innovation. Date: 03 May 2012 Courtesy of CERN PhotoLab / Jean-Claude Rifflard

Later, she worked on the DELPHI experiment at CERN's Large Electron Positron collider, LEP, where she played an important role in the development of silicon tracking detectors.

Aerial view of CERN site of Meyrin and Globe of Innovation. Date: 03 May 2012 Courtesy of CERN PhotoLab / Jean-Claude Rifflard

Since 2000, she has been involved with neutrino physics through the ICARUS experiment at Italy's Gran Sasso National Laboratory, which studies a neutrino beam sent through the Earth from CERN, and has also been involved with feasibility studies for an underground laboratory in Poland.

She has been a member of several CERN committees, and has been the Polish scientific delegate to the CERN Council since January 2010.

CERN’s accelerator complex is a succession of particle accelerators that can reach increasingly higher energies. Each accelerator boosts the speed of a beam of particles, before injecting it into the next one in the sequence. The complex also includes the Antiproton Decelerator and the ISOLDE facility and feeds the CNGS project and the CLIC test area (CTF3). Courtesy of CERN

"The coming years will be fascinating, but demanding, as we prepare the LHC for running at higher energies and implement the updated European Strategy for Particle Physics," said Zalewska.
"CERN and its Council will become my only priority, and I would like to thank the Council members and outgoing President for the confidence they have placed in me."


About the CERN Council


Government representatives of twenty European States meet regularly in the CERN Council to address research in elementary particle physics and related subjects.

These meetings are conducted in accordance with an international treaty, the CERN Convention.

Hirad Materiel test beam CERN. Date: 12 Sep 2012 Courtesy of CERN PhotoLab / Maximilien Brice

The Convention bestows upon the Organization two missions, namely the operation of laboratories and the organisation and sponsoring of international co-operation in the field.

The first mission relates to the governance of the CERN Laboratory in Geneva, which is also the seat of the Organization.

This is the world's largest elementary particle physics laboratory and provides research infrastructure for around 8,000 scientific users from the Member States and other regions in the world.

The Large Hadron Collider Courtesy of CERN

The CERN Laboratory stands astride the Swiss-French border close to Geneva and is one of the jewel's in Europe's crown, a demonstration of what can be achieved through European collaboration.

The Council governs the CERN Geneva Laboratory by defining its strategic programmes, setting and following up its annual goals, approving its budget and appointing its Management; the Laboratory is led by the Director-General who in respect of the Laboratory under his direction is also the formal representative of the Organization.

In its role as governing body of CERN, the Council meets four times a year, bringing together around one table delegations from its twenty Member States, under the chairmanship of the President of Council and with the Director-General acting as secretary.

Accelerators were invented to provide energetic particles to investigate the structure of the atomic nucleus. Since then, they have been used to investigate many aspects of particle physics. Their job is to speed up and increase the energy of a beam of particles by generating electric fields that accelerate the particles, and magnetic fields that steer and focus them. Courtesy of CERN

The second of the missions has been actively addressed since the adoption of the "European Strategy for Particle Physics" in July 2006.

Dedicated "European Strategy Sessions" are held for this purpose.

The main European Strategy Session takes place in September of each year, coinciding with the normal CERN Council Session, but shorter European Strategy Sessions can also be held at other times of the year, if so required.

The bulk of the organisation and preparation for the European Strategy Sessions of Council is undertaken by a Secretariat led by the Scientific secretary who is also the acting secretary at these Council Sessions.

Professor Michel Spiro Courtesy of CERN PhotoLab / Maximilien Brice

As you can see, this web page branches off into two separate pages, reflecting the manner in which the Council addresses the two missions of the Organization.

I sincerely hope these pages will help keep you informed about the issues addressed by the CERN Council, the decisions that have been taken, and other news in its various fields of activity.


Michel Spiro

President of the CERN Council


Source: CERN

http://public.web.cern.ch/public/  

Interview with Agnieszka Zalewska

Yesterday, the CERN Council elected its new President to take over as of 2013.
Agnieszka Zalewska is the first woman and the first Polish physicist to fill this position.

Professor Agnieszka Zalewska Courtesy of CERN

Your involvement with CERN dates back to the 70s. Tell us about your career at CERN.

I got involved with CERN in 1970, when I joined the Krakow group working on the K+ proton interactions recorded at the 2 metre Bubble chamber experiment at the PS.
This was for my diploma thesis.
I continued my collaboration with CERN during my PhD, working on the analysis of high-multiplicity events from the same experiment.

The 2-metre bubble chamber of CERN, being made ready for its first operation. The location is hall 156. Date: Dec 1964. Courtesy of CERN PhotoLab

After receiving my PhD in 1975, I came to CERN for the first time to work in the S136 experiment.
I was then involved in the WA3 experiment and, for over 15 years, in the DELPHI experiment at LEP.
It was a very interesting time because, in the early 80s, work had begun on the silicon vertex detector with VLSI read-out electronics in Peter Weilhammer's and Bernard Hyams’ group.

Since 2000 my work has primarily centred on neutrino physics.
I have been involved in the ICARUS experiment at Gran Sasso (Italy) and the T2K experiment at JPARC (Japan).

I have learnt about how CERN functions also by working in various committees: ACCU, the SPSC, the CERN Research Board, the SPC and, of course, as a Polish delegate to the CERN Council since January 2010.


You will take over as of January 2013, when the LHC will be preparing for the technical stop. How will the role of CERN and the CERN Council develop over this period?

The LHC should remain the first priority of CERN and should be of prime interest to the CERN Council.
The role of the Council is also to aid in the completion and implementation of the European Strategy for Particle Physics.
The coming years will be fascinating but demanding.
We will prepare the LHC for running at its design energy and we will further develop the global approach to particle physics projects.

The scientific quality of CERN is recognized worldwide.
From a Polish perspective, CERN was the first European institution of which Poland became a member.
For us, it was a model for international collaboration and a gateway to Europe.

Distribution of all CERN users by Nationality on 3 September 2012. Courtesy of CERN PhotoLab / Fabienne Marcastel

The quality of CERN’s scientific programme has been achieved thanks to the exemplary skills of the CERN personnel and of the researchers engaged in the experimental groups in the Member States and all over the world.


How will your life change as President of the CERN Council?

It’s a great change in my life. It will be a lot of work. Working for the Council will be my first priority and I will dedicate as much of my time to it as it requires.
I will still be based in Krakow and will continue my research work, but will often visit CERN.

I have many things to learn; it’s a very demanding job.
I will profit from my previous experience and will interact a lot with the current Council President, Michel Spiro, whom I will replace in 2013.


Life will change also for your family…

Yes, but my husband is also a physicist and he understands the constraints very well. My four children are all grown-up now.

Yesterday I received very nice e-mails from many colleagues in many countries – another way of observing the international character of CERN!
From my family?
My grandson sent me an SMS to congratulate me! He is 8 years old.


by Antonella Del Rosso and Katarina Anthony

Bulletin Issue: 39/2012 & 40/2012, Mon 24 Sep 2012


Source: CERN Bulletin Issue: 39/2012 & 40/2012, Mon 24 Sep 2012

http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1479361  



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