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Accelerator education goes further

Panagiotis Charitos — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 09:40:39 +0000

Accelerator Education goes further
by Sabrina El Yacoubi (CERN) & Graeme Burt (University of Lancaster/The Cockcroft Institute)

Participants at accelerator workshop (Image: QUASAR Group)

“Knowledge belongs to mankind, not to scientists,” said Fabiola Giannotti, CERN Director General at the 2017 World Economic Forum. Nowadays the scientific community better understands the need for public engagement. Demonstrating their work to the public through education, outreach, policy and many other activities is one of their main responsibilities alongside their scientific duties.

Similarly to many other institutes and universities, CERN and the Cockcroft Institute have strengthened their education and outreach activities by providing two new educational programs for different audiences.

The Cockcroft Institute is launching an exciting new education program of lectures on accelerator science and technology, to be delivered via webcast and video archives. This will provide a new free resource for the worldwide accelerator community, as a supplement to existing accelerators schools.

The program provides both a general introduction to the subject for non-technical audiences in addition to education on more advanced topics serving as a quick refresher for experienced staff were a traditional accelerator school may not be available. All course videos and slides are free to view, and the usage is strongly encouraged to anyone in our community. The resource shall also act as an inspiration for other institutions to consider similar training initiatives.

The Cockcroft Institute is a UK-based collaboration between Daresbury Laboratory and several UK universities (Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester and Strathclyde) to provide training for the next generation of accelerator scientists and engineers required to develop and optimise future accelerator facilities and light sources. The institute has been very successful in its efforts by initiating a large number of international training networks, such as DITANET, oPAC, OMA and AVA, as well as through the provision of an in-house lecture series for the institute’s postgraduate students. The latter includes a comprehensive set of training courses which provides all PhD students at the institute with a broad education in accelerator science outside of their own specific discipline. An online provision was also added to accommodate the large numbers of students based at overseas laboratories for at least part of their PhD work.

The lectures are primarily delivered by academic staff and accelerator experts from the stakeholder universities and the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). Some external lecturers also complement the program where the in-house experts did not have the right expertise. This online resource now also benefits the wider accelerator community and thus closes an existing training gap identified by a number of studies, such as the EU-funded TIARA project. More information and all course material can be found on the Cockroft Institute’s website, and you can also follow the institute on Facebook and Twitter to receive the latest news about new lectures and short courses.

In parallel, CERN is trying to reach the whole population of the organization and beyond with a large spectrum of courses and training. The CERN Accelerator School, established in 1983, holds trainings every year at one of the CERN member states on particle accelerators and colliders with the aim of transmitting and sharing knowledge. Complementary to this school, a yearly lecture series on “Introduction to Particle Accelerators” (AXEL) is held for technicians who are operating accelerators and whose work is closely linked to them. The lectures are also open to technicians, engineers, and physicists interested in this.

However, CERN has gone further with education and outreach by hosting a new lecture titled “Accelerators explained for everyone – without Maths”. At the origin of this lecture, Rende Steerenberg, Head of the Operations Group within the Beam Department, understood the need of setting up a lecture open to everyone without any prior knowledge of accelerators.

The objective is to widen the audience and to give a general overview of the CERN accelerator complex. It is open to everybody willing to gain a basic knowledge on how to share the beam between the LHC and all the other experiments, the LHC cycle, injection and extraction of particles, guiding particle around an accelerator, accelerating particles, Energy, basic beam diagnostic tools and performance limitations. Without diving into mathematical formulas and concepts, Rende Steerenberg reaches the public by choosing images, comparisons and equivalent to our daily lives to increase public understanding of basic scientific facts and concepts.

Example slide featuring a diagram of the CERN acceleration complex (Credit: CERN)

Five lectures have been given so far, and few others are planned for 2017. They are open to all personnel at CERN and will be given in French and English. More information here.

In the current climate, education and training are crucial aspects of most research and development projects to help ensure the future generations of scientists are well prepared. Indeed, the TIARA project conducted a series of surveys and produced a document containing suggestions for how to improve accelerator education and training based on their results. These suggestions included actions such as the development of training lectures or the provision of scholarships and accelerator schools.

In a similar vein, the ARIES project, due to begin in May 2017, includes a task dedicated to outreach, education and training. ARIES will develop an e-learning course aimed at undergraduate students to deliver an introduction to accelerator science, engineering and technology.

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A growing market for accelerator personnel in Europe

Sabrina El Yacoubi — Thu, 27 Nov 2014 14:31:37 +0000

A growing market for accelerator personnel in Europe
by Philip Burrows (JAI, University of Oxford)

Reported skills shortages (number of institutes) vs. area of expertise. Click to enlarge. Image credit: TIARA.

The findings are revealing: an overall growth of 18% in personnel is projected over the next 5 years, driven largely by the construction of new facilities on this timescale. However a majority of respondents report difficulties in hiring suitable personnel, most notably engineers, and skills shortages are reported in a number of critical areas.

In 2011 the members of TIARA Work Package 5 “Education & Training” (WP5) conducted a survey of provision of accelerator science training across Europe which revealed some interesting facts (see Accelerating News issue 2). In our follow-on survey we have attempted to gauge the market needs for accelerator-related personnel by surveying major customers: laboratories, universities, companies and medical facilities that design, build or operate accelerators. We assessed the types, numbers, and qualification levels of required personnel, as well as issues of recruitment and skills shortages. The response was outstanding: 70 research institutes and 44 companies from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom completed the survey, accounting for more than 4500 personnel engaged in accelerator-related activities. The findings are described in full in the Needs for Accelerator Scientists report released recently.

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Universities and Laboratories for a common goal

Margarita Synanidi — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 13:48:07 +0000

Universities and Laboratories for a common goal
by Giuliano Franchetti (GSI) and Frank Zimmermann (CERN)

Some of the ULA2014 participants in front of the Institute of Applied Physics, Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main. Image credit: Fips Schneider, IAP, U. Frankfurt

“Universities meet Laboratories” (ULA2014) workshop was a pioneering attempt to bring together representatives of the academic world and of laboratories to resolve differences and discuss synergies for working toward a common goal. Amongst many, this included topics like research evaluation and how to make accelerator science an attractive career choice. The event was attended by over 40 key players from all over Europe.

The workshop revealed a unanimous consensus among the participants from universities across Europe that the field of accelerator physics and technology appears to be often disadvantaged by an inadequate standing in the academic environment.

A very critical observation and issue is that students across European universities do not choose accelerator physics as a study topic and most importantly, many of them are not even aware of accelerator physics as a possible career path. For that reason greater efforts should be made for attracting students in the first stage of their studies. Another issue that was raised is that joint PhD supervision has become a difficult process because the needs of the laboratories do not always match the university research interest.

In terms of research assessments the workshop has evidenced a distinct difference of the research evaluation at universities and laboratories. This difference does not only prevent some laboratory staff from competing for job posts at universities, but it also renders collaboration with laboratories less attractive for the university staff. One reason is that laboratories traditionally disseminate their work in conference proceedings (if at all), while the universities consider only the publications in peer-reviewed journals. Moreover, given the strict metric evaluation the universities apply like the h-factor that disregards other relevant scientific outputs, it occurs that accelerator physics journals are suffering from a low impact factor, which is becoming a discriminating element in the research evaluation.

The workshop has also highlighted the positive impact of three major European and American accelerator schools – CERN Accelerator School (CAS), Joint Universities Accelerator School (JUAS), and US Particle Accelerator School (USPAS) – as well as accelerator training at universities, with Germany leading the way. In Japan the combination of the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI) and the Inter-University Research Institute Corporation has proven effective. A report on the TIARA survey results showed that many ongoing activities require more training in accelerators. In most of the European countries the elevation of the discipline to the same as level as other more established branches of physics is being pursued by self-organization of the community (e.g. KfB in Germany, CONECTA in Spain), and with the support of the EPS-AG. In general a deeper discussion of these subjects is required. Although, good experience with joint research, and including green field academic accelerator studies, has been reported from the UK.

Many ways to attract more students to the accelerator science were discussed. In particular, Philip Bambade, Accelerator Department Head at LAL Orsay, proposed and highlighted several promising approaches.

A key to attractiveness can be the multi/inter-disciplinary character of accelerator science. Another factor can be that compared to fields like HEP or even nuclear physics, accelerator scientists can be both theorists and experimentalists at the same time.

With the evolution towards smaller, very sophisticated, accelerators, another possible path is a closer connection between the accelerator scientists and the users, through approaches integrating these two communities.

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E-learning: a new training opportunity for European accelerator science

Margarita Synanidi — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 14:00:05 +0000

E-learning: a new training opportunity for European accelerator science
by Philip Burrows (JAI, University of Oxford)

An additional recommendation by TIARA WP5 is to set up a www portal for providing a comprehensive source of information on accelerator opportunities, namely job and internship vacancies, bursaries and fellowships, and research group and personnel expertise, as well as news on conferences, workshops and training schools and access to online training materials and resources. Image credit: Max Bradbury (JAI, University of Oxford).

Currently around 500 students each year commence master’s and PhD courses related to accelerator science and technology. TIARA Work Package 5 (WP5) proposes measures to improve training access. For science and engineering undergraduates, and high-school students, we recommend setting up an e-learning course: ‘Introduction to Accelerator Science and Technology’.

Based on the surveys on education and training provision, and the market needs for accelerator scientists and engineers, TIARA WP5 (“Education & Training”) has issued its final report, which includes recommendations for promoting Accelerator Science and Technologies at a European level. Among these TIARA WP5 recommends improved support for students to participate in training programmes, including accelerator schools and lab-based internships. It is believed that a prestigious European fellowship scheme for master’s and PhD students would help to improve the supply of trained personnel, as well as raise the profile of the field. It is also recommended setting up an e-learning course (‘Introduction to Accelerator Science and Technology’) to open up training opportunities to European undergraduate science students, as well as a module suitable for high-school students and teachers. See the report ’Recommendations for promoting accelerator science and technology in Europe’ for full details.

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How many accelerator scientists are we training in Europe?

Margarita Synanidi — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 14:15:09 +0000

How many accelerator scientists are we training in Europe?
by Philip Burrows (JAI, University of Oxford)

The total number of trainees (undergraduate to post-doctoral level and including staff) in each country. Data are shown for the academic year 2011 (green), 2010 (red) and the average per year over the 5 years 2005-2009 (blue) (click image to enlarge). Image credit: TIARA

It sounds like a simple question, but no one knew the answer until the recent TIARA survey revealed, perhaps surprisingly, that in recent years more than 1300 people are being trained annually in some aspect of accelerator science (see figure).

Understanding the provision of accelerator science training is one of the key aims of TIARA Work Package 5 “Education & Training” (WP5). To try to get answers to this and related questions, a web-based survey was performed between September 2011 and January 2012. Approximately 100 institutes were contacted in the TIARA member states: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In addition, responses were received from several institutes in Greece and the Netherlands. A total of 88 institutes provided data for the survey – a response that, we think, covers the majority of key players in the countries surveyed.

The WP5 team has digested the data and produced a comprehensive report that provides a remarkable snapshot of the current training situation. The data are also in the process of being made available in a user-friendly www-accessible database that allows detailed queries and searches to be made.

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