The University of Liverpool is playing a leading role in four newly awarded Horizon Europe projects.
The University has directly secured more than 1 M€, as part of a 25 M€ funded project that brings together leading laboratories, universities, research facilities and industrial partners across Europe.
At Liverpool, all four projects are led by Professor Carsten P Welsch from the Department of Physics and the Cockcroft Institute.
The four projects are:
- EuPRAXIA is a major European initiative to establish a distributed research infrastructure based on plasma accelerator technology. Plasma accelerators use waves in ionized gas to accelerate particles over much shorter distances than conventional accelerators, opening the way to more compact facilities for science, medicine and industry. Liverpool has been a key partner in EuPRAXIA for more than a decade and will lead dissemination for the project, closely connected with its research and development into beam and plasma diagnostics, facility design and optimisation.
- EPITA (Enabling Partnerships for Innovation and Accelerator Technology Advancement) will develop a portfolio of breakthrough technologies for future accelerator-based research infrastructures. EPITA will help Europe build accelerators that are higher performing, more sustainable and more cost-effective, while strengthening Europe's high-tech industrial supply chains. Liverpool will lead the work package on co-creation with industry.
- TwinRISE will develop trustworthy AI-generated digital twins for research, healthcare and energy infrastructures. Digital twins are advanced virtual models of physical systems. They can be used to test new ideas, predict performance, reduce downtime and support safer decision-making before changes are made in the real world. Liverpool will lead training, capacity building and exploitation activities, helping researchers, operators, SMEs and industry partners learn how to use and extend the new digital twin tools.
- iRIS (Intelligent Research Infrastructure Sustainability), focuses on the environmental performance of major scientific facilities. The project will be coordinated by CERN and develop AI-powered tools and practical methods to improve the sustainability of research infrastructures throughout their lifecycle. Liverpool will lead communication, engagement and inclusion for iRIS.
Professor Welsch said: "These four awards are a major recognition of Liverpool's leadership in accelerator science, research infrastructure innovation and international collaboration. Modern research infrastructures are among the most ambitious investments society makes in science. They need world-leading technology, but also skilled people, industrial partnerships, sustainable design, trusted data systems and public engagement.
"Liverpool is helping to shape all of these areas. We will contribute to the accelerators, digital tools, sustainability methods and innovation pathways that future multi-billion-pound facilities will depend on. This is exactly the kind of challenge that the Cockcroft Institute was set up to address."
The success further strengthens Particle Physics, including Accelerator Science, as one of the University of Liverpool's Research Frontiers. This latest success for the University supports Europe's next generation of research infrastructures, delivering maximum value for science, society and the economy.
Lead image: The CLARA test facility at Daresbury Laboratory © STFC
