2012

2011

• The updated ‘European Roadmap for Astroparticle Physics’ produced by the Science Advisory Committee of ASPERA-2 will be presented and discussed on November 21-22, 2011 in Paris. Details and registration see here.


• 2011 CHIPP Prize for the best PhD student in Experimental or Theoretical Particle Physics. Mrs Lesya Shchutska.
  


• The CHIPP Plenary session 2011, September 01-02, 2011, Leysin


• NuFact11 - August 1 to 6, 2011, Geneva


• International Neutrino Summer School 2011 - July 18 to 30, 2011, Geneva


• Workshop on LHC activities in Switzerland on July 28 and 29, 2011 (noon to noon) at University Zurich-Irchel (purpose, programme, summary)


• The Annual Meeting of the Swiss Physical Society has taken place on June 15-27, Lausanne (summary)


• Convened by the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences scnat, the second "Round Table regarding the Swiss Representation in International Bodies" has taken place on May 26, 2011 in Bern (draft minutes)


• After having acquired legal personality by transforming itself into an Association according to Swiss law, CHIPP had submitted a membership application to the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences SCNAT. On 20 May 2011, the SCNAT Delegate Assembly has discussed this application and has unanimously accepted CHIPP as a new member of the Academy. Within the Academy, CHIPP will be attributed to the ‘Platform Mathematics, Astronomy, and Physics MAP’. The CHIPP Chairman, Prof. Martin Pohl, was very pleased with this decision and is looking forward to contribute in a substantial and constructive way to the work of the MAP and the SCNAT. In exchange, he expects CHIPP to be more and better involved in the dialogue about science policy and the preparation of national science policy decisions by providing input on issues of importance and concern to Particle, Astroparticle and Nuclear Physics.


• 2011 CHIPP Prize for the best PhD student in Experimental or Theoretical Particle Physics.
  


• CHIPP has acquired legal personality by transforming itself into an Association according to Swiss law. The Association is not-for-profit.

  The decision of principle had been taken on 23 August 2010 at the Board meeting in Gersau (SZ), whereas the statutes and bylaws entered into force on 26 January 2011, the day of the official ‘Gründungsversammlung’ required by Swiss law. This step is a milestone in CHIPP’s history, since it allows the Association to conclude employment contracts and sign other legal documents. Further, acquiring legal personality is a prerequisite to become a member of the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences SCNAT. After the Board’s decision on 26 January, the membership application has been submitted to SCNAT.



• The High Energy and Particle Physics (HEPP) Division of the European Physical Society (EPS) is calling for nominations for the EPS HEPP Prizes in 2011. Deadline for nominations is March 15, 2011. ( more)

2010

• Summary Slide of the Physics of Symmetries and Interactions at low energies and the precision frontier, 11-14 October 2010, PSI


• Workshop on Dark Matter in the Sky and Underground, 22-24 September 2010 at the ITP, University of Zurich (room 36K08) (more)


• CHIPP Prize 2010
  Alexander Kish from University Zurich has received the CHIPP Prize 2010 for the best PhD student in experimental particle physics (more).


• ICHEP2010, 21 to 28 July, Palais des Congrès, Paris (poster)


• The 6th Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs (AXION-WIMP 2010) will be held at the University of Zurich on 5-9 July 2010


• School on Flavour Physics, University of Bern, June 21 - July 2, 2010


• The next annual meeting of the Swiss Physical Society SPS will be held from 21 to 23 June 2010 in Basel (click here for more details).


• The CHIPP Chairman has met the President of SCNAT and his Secretary General on 1 June 2010 to discuss a possible membership of CHIPP in SCNAT (short report)


• Convened by CHIPP, the first "Round Table regarding the Swiss Representation in International Bodies" has taken place on April 30, 2010 in Bern. A short summary can be found here.
  


• The Swiss Universities of Zurich, Berne and Geneva as well as the ETH Zurich participate in the European Physics Masterclasses for High School Students on 15 February to 5 March 2010 (click here for more details: Europe or Switzerland)
  


• The CHIPP PhD School 2010 has taken place in from 17 - 24 January 2010 in Ascona and had the following topics: neutrino physics, experimental methods and detectors). The School was well attended with some 50 participants (10% foreign students) and has been very successfully concluded on 24 January (click here for more details).


• A new CHIPP Executive Board composed of L. Baudis (ZH), K. Kirch (PSI), T. Nakada (EPFL) and M. Pohl (GE, chair) has started on 1 January 2010.
  

2009

• Presentation of U. Straumann to the Secretary of State, Dell'Ambrogio on a new funding line FOLIS for astroparticle and neutrino physics (executive summary).


• The revised and completed ProDoc application for PhD students was approved by the SNF in fall 2009. With its research and educational modules at PhD level, it complements nicely the C-15 project. As an immediate effect, each of the partnering institutes has nominated a ProDoc coordinator (GE: A. Hamilton, BE: HP. Beck, ZH: U. Straumann, EPFL: O. Schneider, ETHZ: G. Dissertori) and some institutes have already hired PhD students under this scheme. Other are in the planning stage and will implement the programme in the next months.


• In late summer 2009, 3 additional PostDocs with strong interest in LHC physics and detector hard- and software, plus a strong know-how in IT have been hired in the context of the C-15 SUK grant ‘Swiss Centre of Advanced Studies in particle Physics in the LHC Era’. They were selected from one international call for applications resulting in 54 candidates. The selected candidates are attached to University of Geneva (jointly with University of Berne), EPFL (jointly with University of Zurich), and ETHZ. They started their work in the second half of 2009 with the three LHC experiments concerned (ATLAS, CMS and LHCb).


• The next Swiss Physical Society annual meeting will be held jointly with the Austrian society at the University of Innsbruck on 2.-4. September 2009 Click here for more details. Note, that the particle and nuclear physicists already meet a day earlier, on Sep. 1.


• In August 2009, the CHIPP Board has elected H.-P. Beck (BE) as new CHIPP outreach coordinator succeeding G. Dissertori (ETHZ). In order to better coordinate and harmonise the Swiss LHC outreach activities he has set up a small committee with representatives active in outreach from all universities.


• In August 2009, the 2008 CHIPP Prize for the best PhD student in Experimental or Theoretical Particle Physics was awarded to Pedro Schwaller from University of Zurich with the following laudatio: “For his deep understanding of quantum field theory and his original and important contributions in theoretical particle physics.“;


• A Workshop on Astroparticle Physics has taken place on 2/3 June 2009 at EPFL: The two-day CHIPP Workshop on Astroparticle Physics covered the area of astroparticle physics, astrophysics, cosmology, and interlinked to high-energy particle physics. The event attracted mostly participants from Swiss institutes, including doctoral students, and provided an excellent opportunity to learn the objectives, updated status and future plans of the field. Scientific cross feeding with the physics at LHC was a particularly interesting issue.


• The restricted European Committee for Future Accelerator (R-ECFA) has reviewed the situation of particle physics in Switzerland (March 2009, EPFL). The committee evaluated very positively the role of CHIPP coordinating the particle physics programme in Switzerland and the strong support to CERN by the Swiss government. The outreach effort was considered to be the area where further support would be needed.


• In January 2009, a Workshop on Higgs Boson Phenomenology has been held at University of Zurich: The Center for Theoretical Studies in Zürich has organised this workshop with the aim to bring together all the specialists in order to prepare the community for the challenges which will be posed in the search for Higgs boson(s) and the understanding of experimental results amid their discovery. The WS was attended by some 60 students (15% from abroad) listening to talks and lectures from 37 speaker (5% from abroad).


• After having worked with limited resources already in 2008, J.-P. Ruder has fully taken up his new duties as CHIPP Administrator and Administrative Project Leader for the C15 project (‘Swiss Centre of Advanced Studies in particle Physics in the LHC Era’) in January 2009.



 

Access to years 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005

Updated : Catherine Blanchard, 17 February 2010

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