The Kick-off meeting in Brussels for the NuPECC long range plan
The main representatives of the European nuclear physics community met in the University Foundation in Brussels on November 27th to launch the 5th long range plan (LRP) for nuclear physics in Europe.
The LRP was produced by NuPECC which is an European Expert Board for Nuclear Physics which represents 21 countries, 31 Institutions and about 6000 scientists. NuPECC had already produced previous plans, in 1991, 1997, 2004 and 2010, to provide selected guidelines and the needed visibility to the funding agencies in the field. The LRP was always an important tool in the broader worldwide context of nuclear physics community.
The meeting in Brussels was attended by about 80 scientists, who covered many of the present key roles in nuclear physics research institutions, universities and committees in Europe. Welcome addresses were chaired by Marek Lewitowicz, the new chair-elect of NuPECC. Important statements were given by Angela Bracco (NuPECC chair), Jean-Claude Worms (European Science Foundation CEO), Giorgio Rossi (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures chair), José Luis Martinez (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures, Physical Sciences & Engineering chair), Ales Fiala (European Commission Research Infrastructure Unit chair) and Rüdiger Voss (European Physical Society president). There was a common agreement on the importance of the LRP in the framework of a global European scientific policy which is already looking beyond H2020 and is exceeding the abilities of individual countries acting independently. Integration, Infrastructure, Innovation and Data Management are amongst the most important keywords that were extracted from this plan. The balance and the synergy between the planned basic science research and the applied research was also very well appreciated.
Angela Bracco, chaired by Paolo Giubellino (GSI-FAIR director), then provided a more detailed description of the contents of the 5th LRP, which includes plans and views for the most important present and future large scale facilities in Europe and the status and perspectives in the different fields of hadronic and nuclear physics, as well. A NuPECC Long Range Plan 2017 : Perspectives for Nuclear Physics volume of 236 pages and a NuPECC Nuclear Physics and its Application more explanatory brochure were produced for this purpose, after about 2 years of common work, meetings and drafting.
Following that, Sylvie Leray (Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission), under the chair of Eduardo Alves (Instituto Superior Tecnico- Lisbon) underlined the many applications and social benefits of nuclear physics, in particular for energy, health, space, security, environment, cultural heritage and material science.
The meeting was wound up by a general warm discussion which also addressed the issue of the best way to disseminate and promote the LRP, which is a common task of everyone.
