Accelerator experts discuss best training schemes
The annual meeting of the Joint Universities Accelerator School (JUAS) took place on 23 and 24 April 2015. It was hosted by oPAC coordinator Prof. Carsten P. Welsch with support from the EU Project TEAM and joined scholars and researchers from across Europe to review the 2015 edition of this highly successful school that took place between January – March this year. Founded in 1994, JUAS delivers an academically accredited training programme in collaboration with CERN and a cluster of 15 European universities. The School comprises 2 five-week sessions on the Sciences and Physics, as well as Technologies and Applications of particle accelerators. Classes are taught by leading specialists in their fields and each session is concluded by an examination.
All 2015 lectures, student performance in the exam and their feedback on individual lectures were critically reviewed. The advisory board members commended JUAS for offering for the first time a whole series of hands-on training sessions that allowed school participants to gain expertise in ultra-high vacuum systems, superconductivity and other cutting edge technologies. School finances and current sponsorship by industry partners and research institutes were also reviewed and the school found to be in excellent shape.
Other training schemes, such as oPAC’s lectures and workshops, or the Nordic Particle Accelerator School, were found to adapt the JUAS principles and help delivering high quality education to an even larger number of students. This is critical in ensuring that the future demand in trained accelerator experts can be met.
Dr. Louis Rinolfi, JUAS director, said: “JUAS’ ambition is to deliver the best possible and most comprehensive education program to our students and we are extremely grateful for the commitment of our lecturers. We have received excellent feedback on the quality of the lecture program this year and will try our best to improve the school even further in the future.”
“We had a very fruitful meeting in Liverpool and at the Cockcroft Institute and are grateful for the local support. Liverpool University is an important partner for JUAS and we hope that we continue to see many students from this university attend our courses in the future. ”
Many oPAC Fellows have benefitted from training at JUAS with Michele Carla even winning the 2013 JUAS award for the best exam. The network has supported JUAS by offering scholarships to selected student and allowing many early stage researchers to benefit from this excellent training.
Further information about the meeting can be found here.