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CERN is governed and primarily funded by its 25 Member States. Together with 11 Associate Member States and partners worldwide, they make CERN a global hub for scientific collaboration.

Founded by European states, CERN today unites governments, universities, research institutions and scientific communities from around the world. Its Member States provide the core funding and, through the CERN Council, determine the Organization’s scientific programme and long-term strategy. Associate Member States contribute financially and participate in Council discussions, strengthening CERN’s international scientific cooperation.

Beyond membership, CERN maintains collaboration agreements with a wide range of partners, grants observer status in its governing bodies and provides a global community of researchers with access to its research infrastructure. In so doing, CERN demonstrates how science fosters peaceful collaboration across borders.

Member States

🇦🇹 Austria

🇧🇪 Belgium

🇧🇬 Bulgaria

🇨🇿 Czechia

🇩🇰 Denmark

🇪🇪 Estonia

🇫🇮 Finland

🇫🇷 France

🇩🇪 Germany

🇬🇷 Greece

🇭🇺 Hungary

🇮🇱 Israel

🇮🇹 Italy

🇳🇱 Netherlands

🇳🇴 Norway

🇵🇱 Poland

🇵🇹 Portugal

🇷🇴 Romania

🇷🇸 Serbia

🇸🇰 Slovakia

🇸🇮 Slovenia

🇪🇸 Spain

🇸🇪 Sweden

🇨🇭 Switzerland

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

The CERN Convention was signed in 1953 by 12 founding European Member States and entered into force on 29 September 1954, marking the formal creation of the Organization. Over the decades, CERN’s membership has grown to 25 Member States, reflecting the Laboratory’s expanding reach across Europe.
Click here to see the full timeline.

1954

Founding Member States

  • Belgium
  • Denmark
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Italy
  • the Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • the United Kingdom
  • Yugoslavia (until 1961)

1955–1999

+ 3 countries

  • Austria (1959)
  • Spain (1961–1969)
  • Spain (1983)
  • Portugal (1985)

+ 6 countries

  • Finland (1991)
  • Poland (1991)
  • Czechoslovakia (1992–1993)
  • Czechia (1993)
  • Slovakia (1993)
  • Hungary (1992)
  • Bulgaria (1999)

since 2000

+ 5 countries

  • Israel (2014)
  • Romania (2016)
  • Serbia (2019)
  • Estonia (2024)
  • Slovenia (2025)

Today, CERN’s Member States provide the financial foundation for the Laboratory’s scientific mission. Their annual contributions fund its infrastructure, operations and scientific programme, enabling a worldwide community of researchers to pursue discoveries at the frontiers of knowledge. This sustained collective investment makes CERN’s achievements possible.

Through their representation in the CERN Council, the Organization’s highest governing body, the Member States shape CERN’s scientific direction, approve its budget and decide on major strategic developments. Each Member State has one vote. Membership also enables researchers, engineers and students to participate in CERN’s scientific and technical programmes and to benefit from training and employment opportunities. Companies from Member States are eligible to compete for CERN procurement contracts, thereby supporting technological development, innovation and industrial return.

Associate Member States

🇧🇷 Brazil

🇨🇱 Chile

🇭🇷 Croatia

🇨🇾 Cyprus

🇮🇳 India

🇮🇪 Ireland

🇱🇻 Latvia

🇱🇹 Lithuania

🇵🇰 Pakistan

🇹🇷 Türkiye

🇺🇦 Ukraine

Established in 2010 under CERN’s geographical enlargement policy, Associate Membership enables countries to participate in the Organization’s scientific mission and engage with CERN at an institutional level. Since 2012, 14 countries have become Associate Member States, with three of them acceding to full Member State status. Click here to see the full timeline.

since 2010

Associate Member States

  • Serbia (2012), became a Member State in 2019.
  • Pakistan (2015)
  • Türkiye (2015)
  • Cyprus (2016)
  • Ukraine (2016)
  • India (2017)
  • Slovenia (2017), became a Member State in 2025.
  • Lithuania (2018)
  • Croatia (2019)
  • Estonia (2021), became a Member State in 2024.
  • Latvia (2021)
  • Brazil (2024)
  • Ireland (2025)
  • Chile (2026)

Today, CERN’s Associate Member States take part in the Organization’s scientific and technical programmes. Associate Membership confines rights and obligations, including financial contributions and opportunities for industrial participation. Associate Members may also attend certain meetings of the CERN Council, but without voting rights. For some countries, Associate Membership is a pathway to full CERN membership.

Beyond Membership

While Member States and Associate Member States form CERN’s institutional backbone, the Laboratory’s scientific community extends far beyond these formal ties. Today, many Non-Member States, territories and regions around the world collaborate with CERN. They include Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Oman, Palestine, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Universities, research institutes and funding agencies all over the world collaborate with CERN through Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), enabling researchers to contribute to CERN’s scientific programme regardless of their country’s membership status. International Cooperation Agreements (ICAs) provide a framework for scientific and technical cooperation with the Organization, while Observer Status enables engagement with its governing bodies. Together, these mechanisms connect institutions and researchers from across the globe in the pursuit of scientific discovery.

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Observer Status

The CERN Council grants this formal, non-voting status to selected states and international organisations, traditionally in recognition of significant contributions to CERN’s infrastructure or close links with the Laboratory. Observers may attend Restricted Sessions of the Council but do not have voting rights. Scientific and technical collaboration with Observer States is governed through International Cooperation Agreements (ICAs). CERN’s Observer Organisations include the European Union and UNESCO. UNESCO played a vital role in CERN’s establishment and remains the custodian of the CERN Convention, while the European Union’s Observer Status reflects its close relationship with CERN and the wider European research landscape. Over the decades, Observer Status has provided a framework for countries to develop closer institutional ties with CERN. Today, Japan and the United States of America hold Observer Status with respect to the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC).

A global research community

To tackle some of the most fundamental questions in physics, CERN relies on the expertise and creativity of outstanding researchers from around the world. Participation in CERN’s research activities is therefore not tied to a country’s formal relationship with the Organization. Instead, major experiments, the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, future accelerator studies and many other projects are based on multilateral Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed by the participating institutes, their funding agencies and CERN as the host laboratory. These MoUs define the financial and in-kind resources that participants contribute to the construction, maintenance, operation and upgrade of an experiment or project. Today, more than 600 institutions contribute to CERN experiments and benefit from access to the Laboratory’s world-leading research infrastructure. Together, these collaborations demonstrate how science brings people, expertise and ideas together across geographical and political boundaries.

International Cooperation Agreements

International Cooperation Agreements (ICAs) provide a framework for scientific and technical collaboration with CERN. They enable researchers and institutions to participate in CERN’s scientific programme, contribute to experiments and technological projects and build long-term partnerships with the Organization. CERN maintains ICAs with partners in Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Oman, Palestine, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Qatar, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Uruguay and Vietnam.

Observer Status

The CERN Council grants this formal, non-voting status to selected states and international organisations, traditionally in recognition of significant contributions to CERN’s infrastructure or close links with the Laboratory. Observers may attend Restricted Sessions of the Council but do not have voting rights. Scientific and technical collaboration with Observer States is governed through International Cooperation Agreements (ICAs). CERN’s Observer Organisations include the European Union and UNESCO. UNESCO played a vital role in CERN’s establishment and remains the custodian of the CERN Convention, while the European Union’s Observer Status reflects its close relationship with CERN and the wider European research landscape. Over the decades, Observer Status has provided a framework for countries to develop closer institutional ties with CERN. Today, Japan and the United States of America hold Observer Status with respect to the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC).

A global research community

To tackle some of the most fundamental questions in physics, CERN relies on the expertise and creativity of outstanding researchers from around the world. Participation in CERN’s research activities is therefore not tied to a country’s formal relationship with the Organization. Instead, major experiments, the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, future accelerator studies and many other projects are based on multilateral Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed by the participating institutes, their funding agencies and CERN as the host laboratory. These MoUs define the financial and in-kind resources that participants contribute to the construction, maintenance, operation and upgrade of an experiment or project. Today, more than 600 institutions contribute to CERN experiments and benefit from access to the Laboratory’s world-leading research infrastructure. Together, these collaborations demonstrate how science brings people, expertise and ideas together across geographical and political boundaries.

Contacts

José Miguel Jimenez
Head of Relations with Member States

Jeff Wiener
Advisor for Relations with Member States

Christoph Schaefer
Head of Relations with Associate Member States

Salvatore Mele
Head of Relations with Non-Member States

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