2020 Nupecc Review Report
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2020 Review of the NNuclear Physicsu EuropeanPECC Collaboration Committee EXPERT COMMITTEE 1 Table of contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 3 1. NuPECC membership and related interactions ........................................................ 5 Membership ................................................................................................................................... 5 Relation with funding agencies ................................................................................................... 5 Coupling to the community ......................................................................................................... 5 2. Relation with external bodies ................................................................................ 7 Sister bodies .................................................................................................................................. 7 Nuclear Physics of Large-Scale Infrastructures ........................................................................ 7 Other European Organisations ................................................................................................... 8 Beyond Europe ............................................................................................................................. 8 3. Dissemination and Outreach ................................................................................. 9 4. Impact of NuPECC on the European Nuclear Physics landscape ............................... 11 5. Feedback from NuPECC leadership on the review report and Acknowledgments ....... 13 Appendix ...................................................................................................................... 14 Appendix 1: NuPECC Representatives and Members .............................................................. 14 Appendix 2 : NuPECC Review Panel members .......................................................................... 16 Appendix 3 : Review Panel Terms of Reference ........................................................................ 17 2 Introduction The Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee (NuPECC -www.nupecc.org) is an expert committee established in 1988 and hosted by the European Science Foundation (www.esf.org) since 1991. NuPECC aims at developing the strategy for Over the past years, NuPECC has been very active European cooperation in nuclear science by in pursuing its objectives. In 2019, the European supporting collaborative ventures between Science Foundation set up a review panel of four research groups within Europe, and promoting experts (see Appendix 2) with the mandate of nuclear physics and its trans-disciplinary use in reviewing the activities of NuPECC over the period applications for societal benefit. 2014-2020. The committee is composed of representatives This panel was specifically asked to comment on from 21 European countries as well as the activities and achievements of NuPECC and representatives from five research institutions, to provide recommendations for the next period, three non-European associated members, and 9 taking into account the NuPECC mandate as well permanent observers (see Appendix 1). as the European and global research landscape (for the Review Panel Terms of Reference, The scientific domain of NuPECC includes hadron see Appendix 3). physics and phases of strongly interacting matter; nuclear structure & reactions; nuclear astrophys- The review was based on a thorough self- ics; symmetries & fundamental interactions; as evaluation report provided to the Review Panel in well as some applications of nuclear physics. July 2020, the participation of panel members in the Autumn 2020 NuPECC plenary meeting, and In achieving its mission, NuPECC aims at: an interview of the current and past committee • providing advice and making strategic chairs, current vice-chair, and executive recommendations to funding agencies and scientific secretary. decision-making bodies; The Review Panel met for the first time on 16 • defining a network of complementary July 2020 and held subsequent meetings on 25 facilities and research activities within September, 15-16 October (in connection with the Europe and encouraging optimisation of NuPECC plenary meeting), 30 November, and 5 their usage; January 2021. • providing a forum for discussions on the This report presents the Panel’s consensual provision of future facilities, research findings on NuPECC’s profile and activities. It also activities and instrumentation; contains a number of recommendations. • contributing to public education The Review Panel would like to thank the and awareness. leadership of NuPECC for all their hard work on the review, for the high quality of the materials Over the past 30 years, NuPECC has produced provided to the Review Panel, informative five Long Range Plans (LRPs, the most recent presentations, and for their excellent responses to in 2017) aiming to providing integrated requests for additional information. prospective views on European nuclear physics. The committee also produces the Nuclear Physics News journal, published quarterly since September 1990. 3 Review Process Timeline JUNE 2020 Appointment of NuPECC Review Panel Review Panel JULY 2020 Kick-off meeting NuPECC finalises its self-evaluation Report Assessment of NuPECC’s AUGUST 2020 self-evaluation report SEPTEMBER 2020 Review Panel 2° meeting Participation of Review Panel OCTOBER 2020 Members to NuPECC’s new chair election meeting Interview of NOVEMBER 2020 NuPECC’s Chairs Production of the FEBRUARY 2021 evaluation report & outcomes Presentation of Review MARCH 2021 outcomes to NuPECC Commitee members 4 1. NuPECC membership and related interactions Membership The Review Panel recommends that NuPECC develops mechanisms to ensure that all its The membership of NuPECC is institutionally members adequately contribute to NuPECC’s defined (see below). It is nevertheless very programmatic activities. important that it reflects all aspects of the broadly understood field of nuclear physics. The Review Panel recommends that the Relation with funding agencies European nuclear physics community continues In the course of the reviewed period, NuPECC to revisit the broad range of the field at the has spoken directly to some of the funding time of each LRP and that NuPECC aligns its agencies on the implementation of the LRP in the membership with the updated scope. framework of the ‘Task Force’ mechanism. Receiving feedback from funding agencies and The Review Panel finds this a good practice; it reporting to funding agencies are both core helps to strengthen understanding of the role activities of NuPECC. of nuclear physics in the member countries. The Review Panel recommends that NuPECC The Review Panel recommends broadening develops a mechanism to ensure that its this practice. members appointed as representatives of funding agencies are (i) acquainted with the agencies’ positions and (ii) maintain back-and- Coupling to the community forth communication. Connection with the community comes to the fore when formulating the LRP. The addition of ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) Large Scale In this respect the work of NuPECC is excellent, Facility members to the Committee is seen as and is arguably its most important activity. The a positive step. NuPECC intends to extend this journal of NuPECC (Nuclear Physics News) to other ESFRI facilities with a sizeable nuclear and its website are excellent communication physics component vehicles to maintain links with the community (See item 3, Dissemination and Outreach). The Review Panel recommends an institutional membership for CERN, which is an important host to various nuclear physics activities at ISOLDE, ALICE, other LHC experiments, and the AD. In addition, the membership of ILL, PSI, and other multipurpose large-scale facilities with a sizeable nuclear physics research component should be considered. 5 NuPECC Member Organisations 6 2. Relation with external bodies Over the past decade, NuPECC has developed or strengthened connections with various institutions within and outside Europe. Sister bodies The Review Panel encourages the increase in interactions with large scale infrastructures. In the past years NuPECC has developed links NuPECC’s expertise can contribute to solving and joint actions with ECFA (European Committee problems, making sure that sufficient support for Future Accelerators - is provided to Large-scale facilities and that https://ecfa.web.cern.ch/) and ApPEC the community is offered adequate access. (European Astroparticle Physics Committee - However, this approach could result in too https://www.appec.org/). These committees much emphasis being put on efforts around have reciprocal observer status. They also host large-scale infrastructures, especially when joint seminars, issue joint calls for expressions compared to research at smaller facilities and of interest on fields of common interest and theory centres. Clearly, the right balance must produce joint position statements. They also be found. contribute to their respective long-range strategy planning efforts. NuPECC was successful in developing links with ESFRI and with the European The Review Panel congratulates NuPECC on Commission’s services. In particular, its this very visible effort aiming at broadening advisory role in the area of proposal review