6 M€ Accelerator R&D Project Started on 1.12.2011
The optimization of the performance of any particle accelerator critically depends on an in-depth understanding of the beam dynamics in the machine and the availability of simulation tools to study and continuously improve all accelerator components. It also requires a complete set of beam diagnostics methods to monitor all important machine and beam parameters with high precision and a powerful control and data acquisition system.
Within the oPAC project all these aspects will be closely linked with the aim to optimize the performance of present and future accelerators that lie at the heart of many research infrastructures. The project brings together 22 institutions from around the world, including major research centres such as CERN (Switzerland) and the Synchrotron Soleil (France), universities including Royal Holloway University of London (UK) and the University of Seville (Spain), as well a large number of industry partners, such as CIVIDEC (Austria), CST (Germany) and COSYLAB (Slovenia).
This network will jointly train 22 early stage researchers (ESRs) and started on December 1st 2011 with a project duration of 48 months. The project was selected for funding by the EU under extreme competition: From 919 submitted proposals, only 84 were recommended for funding, with only 9 in the physics panel. With a project budget of 6 M€, oPAC is one of the largest projects ever funded by the EU within the Marie Curie ITN actions.
Whilst the main focus will lie on the training of the ESRs through cutting-edge research, oPAC will also organize a number of international schools, topical workshops and a final conference. These activities are all based on international collaboration and aim at promoting knowledge exchange. It is expected that this will impact positively on this scientific community.
The network was initiated and will be coordinated by Carsten P. Welsch, leader of the QUASAR Group.
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