Professor Gert Aarts FLSW appointed as Director of European Centre for Theoretical Nuclear Physics

News from one of our Fellows. Congratulations to Professor Gert Aarts FLSW. 

Prof Gert Aarts FLSW, of Swansea University’s Physics Department, has been appointed as Interim-Director of the European Centre for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas (ECT*), from January 1, 2021. Located in the beautiful Villa Tambosi in Trento (Italy), ECT* is renowned for its intensive schedule of international workshops, collaboration meetings, and doctoral training programmes. In addition it offers visiting fellowships for junior and senior researchers and maintains a vigorous local research programme involving permanent and temporary researchers.

ECT* was founded in 1993 to be a centre of frontline research in theoretical nuclear physics, to promote active contacts between theory, experiments and related areas of research, and to further the training of young researchers. As a transnational facility endorsed by the Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee (NuPECC), it is supported by funding from European Research Councils, including STFC in the UK, as well as EU programmes. Since 2008, it operates as an autonomous centre under the administrative umbrella of the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK).

Gert, who also served as Chair of the ECT* Scientific Board for the past three years, says: “It is an honour to take on the role of Interim-director. As everything else, the programme in the past year has been affected by COVID and hence one of the main tasks is to maintain and enhance the international scientific activities. In addition, we are working hard to strengthen the connection with the research community, which will lead to additional interdisciplinary research activities in Trento, connecting e.g. nuclear physics and quantum technology.”