IGFAE Hosts the 52nd Edition of the International Meeting on Fundamental Physics

This October, the headquarters of the Galician Institute for High Energy Physics (IGFAE) — a joint centre of the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) and the Xunta de Galicia, and part of the CIGUS network, an initiative that brings together research centres recognised for scientific excellence — welcomed the main annual gathering of the Spanish particle-physics community.

Held from Tuesday 7 to Friday 10 October, the 52nd edition of the International Meeting on Fundamental Physics brought together more than one hundred members of the international particle-physics community. It is only the third time in fifty years that Galicia has hosted this landmark scientific meeting, the longest-running event of its kind in Spain.

The ongoing update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPP) places this symposium at a crucial moment for the field. The strategy will shape research over the coming decades, particularly in light of the proposal to construct a new accelerator at CERN. For this reason, the opening day in Santiago focused on the conclusions of the ESPP meeting held in Venice last June, with particular emphasis on the role expected of the Spanish scientific community.

Over the following days, more than twenty talks were delivered by researchers from institutions across the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Slovenia, Italy and Canada, together with colleagues from Spain’s leading research centres.

Speaking to the IGFAE, researchers Paula Álvarez Cartelle and Xabier Cid, coordinators of the local organising committee, said: “This is a wonderful opportunity to position our institute as a central hub for particle physics in Spain.” They were joined on the committee by fellow IGFAE researchers Jaime Álvarez, Néstor Armesto, Juan Calderón, Elena González and José Ángel Hernando.

“The outstanding calibre of the speakers and the wide range of topics covered make this conference one of the most significant events we have organised at the IGFAE in recent years. We also have the special opportunity of using our new headquarters to host an event of this scale for the very first time,” Álvarez and Cid added.