The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) is a global organisation established over a century ago that aims to bring physicists together and to promote the development of physics for global good. It is the only international union that covers all fields of physics.
The union has various working groups, each set up to focus on a particular area through the cooperation of experts. These include supporting women in physics, physics ethics, open science, and collaboration with industry.
One working group, WG-14, is dedicated to bringing together the particle accelerator science community, supporting knowledge exchange, and also promoting accelerator facilities’ impact on society. The group’s members include scientists working at some of the world’s most important accelerator facilities.
It is currently chaired by Christine Darve, who works at the new European Spallation Source (ESS) facility in Sweden. In this interview, she talks about the purpose of the working group, its goal to bring together the accelerator community, a new programme to support young particle accelerator ambassadors, and how particle accelerators – these often large, complex and intricate machines – are more connected to everyday life than one would imagine.
Why was IUPAP WG-14 created? What objectives did you set out to achieve?
This working Group was created in 2015 by Lia Merminga, former director of Fermilab in the US, and supported by CERN’s Gianluigi Arduini, with the goal of building better connections between leaders in the accelerator community and to support the next generation of talent coming through.
So, the exchange of knowledge between accelerator facilities and the people working there is one of the main objectives.
Beyond that, the group puts a big emphasis on training early-career scientists. Frank Tecker, director of the CERN Accelerator School (CAS), helps with this in his role as WG-14 deputy chair.
We’re also trying to map and review accelerator applications supporting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, including life sciences, healthcare, research, and technology.
More broadly, we are trying to bring the accelerator community together as much as possible, and, consequently, to demonstrate to the wider public how accelerators can have a positive impact on society, from medicine and energy to environmental and industrial uses.
Could you describe some of the activities you are currently engaging in?
One of the main activities we are carrying out this year is the call for Accelerator Engagement Ambassadors, who will represent the accelerator scientific community.
Accelerators have applications across many fields, including sustainability, health, future technologies, and peace. We received 22 applications and have selected five ambassadors - one for each theme and representing every continent.
The selected ambassadors will receive a small budget to develop and promote their ideas over the coming months.
We’re also preparing for the next edition of the International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC), which is sponsored by IUPAP. It will take in Deauville, France, in May 2026. As a sponsor, IUPAP sets clear guiding principles for the conference, such as the free circulation of scientists, gender balance, and no harassment policy.
We’re also planning to hold a kind of hackathon during the conference to help bring young people together with industry, to see what problems industry and research infrastructures are facing and how young scientists can help.
How does IUPAP differ from or relate to other accelerator groups and associations, such as the International Particle Physics Outreach Group (IPPOG), the American Physical Society (APS), or even IUPAP’s WG-1 on future accelerators?
That’s a good question. First, if you look at how IUPAP is organised, it is structured through different commissions, working groups, and then affiliated commissions, allowing different disciplines to come together under one umbrella. WG-14 operates under Commission C11 (Particles and Fields) but naturally intersects with other Commissions, including Nuclear Physics, Plasma Physics and Laser Physics & Photonics. IUPAP is currently undergoing a rejuvenation to better align its structure with the modern physics landscape while preserving its core mission intact.
In spirit, WG-14 is connected with the goals of the APS Forum on International Physics (FIP), though our focus is specifically on particle accelerators. While the International Committee for Future Accelerators (IFCA) – which is also IUPAP’s WG-1 – concentrates on the strategic planning of future high-energy particle accelerators, our group also promotes accelerators used for broader applications, such as light sources and neutrons sources, and medical technologies.
IPPOG, by contrast, remains primally focused on high-energy physics outreach, making all efforts complementary.
A central goal of WG-14 efforts is to strengthen education and knowledge transfer, ensuring that expertise in accelerator science reaches the next generation and supports the development of future accelerator technologies across all applications.
In your opinion, what potential do particle accelerators have to benefit the public?
For me, bringing benefits to society means improving people’s quality of life. From this perspective, accelerators can play a key role in making our lives better, in many fields such as healthcare, technology, and education.
In medicine, for example, accelerators enable advanced treatments like proton and heavy-ion therapy, more precise radiotherapy, and medical imaging techniques such as x-rays. These applications greatly improve diagnostics and patient care, helping us find more effective ways to treat diseases, including cancer.
Equally important is to train future engineers and researchers, giving them the skills to develop new technologies and drive scientific and technological progress.
There is a great deal of ongoing research and innovation in this field, especially in Europe, where we are particularly strong in developing medical applications and neutron- or [CD1] photon-based technologies that can bring tangible benefits to society.
IUPAP WG-14 is also supporting SESAME (Synchroton-Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East). Why is this case so important?
SESAME is a very interesting project, developed in collaboration with UNESCO and supported by the European Union, which funded all the solar panels to help to reduce CO₂ emissions. From the very beginning, CERN and other European Laboratories have played a crucial role in supporting the SESAME facility while fostering peaceful collaboration among member countries in a region with a complex political context. This accelerator, located in Jordan, is a key example of how science can create stability and international cooperation. The accelerator director, Maher Attal, is also one of our WG-14 members.
Looking ahead, could you tell us about the future of the group? What are the main goals and plans for the next few years?
One of our main priorities will be first to really understand how we can collaborate more closely with the different IUPAP commissions and working groups. We are currently structuring everything, and we also hope to expand on the ambassador initiative. I believe it is a very good way to find more potential for growth and to provide training for the next generation of physicists who will design, use, and motivate accelerator technologies.
Elsewhere, our ambition is to help research infrastructures close the gap between basic science and innovative new products, to make the process of taking research to the market smoother.
You start with basic science - but how do you transform it? How do you explain and turn this basic science into useful technology? And how can these technologies be implemented in everyday life and society? For me, this transition is what we try to make more concrete, so that it becomes a solid and visible connection and perhaps an additional clear justification for the existence of our laboratories.
More broadly, I see communication as an important way to connect technology, science, and all the STEAM disciplines - even art - showing how we can use words and visuals effectively to link every society’s perception with science and technology. Technologies like the World Wide Web are clear examples of how this connection has transformed our society.