Dear Colleagues,
As we embark on a new year at CERN, I’d like to welcome you all back and wish you the very best for 2016. I hope you all had a relaxing end of year break and are looking forward, as I am, to an exciting year in the life of CERN.
As the new management team begins its five-year mandate to lead this great Organization, we inherit a Laboratory in excellent shape. For that I’d like to thank Rolf Heuer and his team, along with all of you, for keeping CERN in such good health.
CERN is, first and foremost, a laboratory for fundamental research in physics. It is also a place where science stimulates technological innovation. It’s a place that inspires future generations, either to pursue scientific careers, or simply to develop into citizens aware of the value of science in today’s society. And it’s a place where scientists from all over the world come together to share the pursuit of knowledge. That is an incredibly noble ideal, making CERN a paragon of tolerance and mutual respect.
Over the next five years, we have challenges to face. We need to ensure excellent performance of the LHC accelerator, detectors and computing, in order to deliver exciting science at the energy frontier. We need to maintain a diverse and compelling scientific programme. And we need to start building the long-term future of our field. CERN’s rich experimental programme, which makes our Laboratory unique, promises significant advances in the understanding of fundamental physics, and I am much looking forward to seeing what nature has to reveal.
As well as in research, there will be challenges elsewhere as we move forward. There are new emerging players to be integrated into the world’s particle physics research landscape, for example, and budgets for research are tight in countries around the world.
To bring this message to a close, I’d like to reiterate my invitation for you to join me in the CERN Main Auditorium, or by webcast, on Monday 18 January at 10:00 where you’ll have the opportunity to meet the new Directorate. We will present the new structure for CERN, along with our goals and challenges for the years to come. I look forward to seeing many of you there, and to working with you all over the coming years.
With my best wishes for 2016 to you and your families,
Fabiola Gianotti
More information about the new structure and the Directors.