Venice, Italy, 27 June 2025. This week, more than 600 scientists met in Venice, Italy, to debate the future direction of European particle physics in the global context. The Open Symposium is an important step in the ongoing update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPP), providing particle physicists in Europe and beyond with an opportunity to assess scientific priorities and technological approaches for the medium- and long-term future.
The Strategy recommendations, which will reflect the ambitions and priorities of the community, are expected to be submitted to the CERN Council in early 2026. Projects are approved by the Council through a separate decision-making process, taking the Strategy recommendations and other considerations into account.
The previous ESPP update in 2020 emphasised the importance of ensuring Europe’s continued scientific and technological leadership. Building on the discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), it recommended an electron-positron “Higgs factory” as the highest-priority next facility after the LHC reaches the end of its operational lifetime in 2041 and that Europe should have the long-term ambition to operate a proton-proton collider at the highest achievable energies.
“The time is ripe to forge a brilliant future for our field in Europe, together with our global partners,” said Fabiola Gianotti, CERN Director-General. “The worldwide CERN community’s achievements in implementing the 2020 ESPP update prove that we are a strong community, capable of designing, building and operating facilities of astounding complexity that consistently exceed expectations. This is our greatest asset as we prepare for even more ambitious projects.”
A total of 266 submissions from the community, spanning all aspects of particle physics, formed the basis for vibrant discussions during the week-long Open Symposium. Participants from almost 40 countries, including many early-career researchers, expressed the need for an ambitious and innovative research programme that will maintain CERN as a world-leading centre for collider physics while also ensuring a diverse programme that maximises physics reach and includes approaches complementary to colliders. Contributions from researchers in neighbouring fields also demonstrated the rich connections between particle physics and nuclear and astroparticle physics.
Identifying the most promising flagship collider to succeed the LHC at CERN is a central aim of the 2026 ESPP update. In direct response to the 2020 Strategy update, a feasibility study for a Future Circular Collider (FCC) facility that could host a 91 km-circumference electron-positron collider followed by an energy-frontier proton-proton collider in the same tunnel was conducted, and the report was released in March 2025. In addition to the FCC, other projects under consideration in the relevant time frame are an electron-positron linear collider at CERN and smaller colliders that would re-use the LHC tunnel. Great progress has also been made towards a muon collider, but several years of R&D work are still needed to demonstrate its feasibility.
National input from members of the high-energy physics communities in CERN’s 25 Member States so far indicate broad support for the FCC programme on account of its outstanding scientific potential and long-term strategic value. Underscoring the importance of continued dialogue and assessment, discussions on alternative options will continue. Several important steps remain before the ESPP recommendations are finalised. Expert ESPP panels are working on a comparative evaluation of proposed future colliders in terms of their physics potential, environmental impact and sustainability, technical maturity, cost, required human resources and implementation timelines.
“I am happy to see that the recommendations of the 2020 ESPP update and their implementation via the FCC Feasibility Study enjoy overwhelming support from the vast majority of the high-energy physics community as well as leading experts,” said Costas Fountas, President of the CERN Council. “The discovery of the Higgs boson at the LHC in 2012 marked the start of a new journey of discovery that can only be realised by a future collider with the broadest and most powerful research programme, and the CERN Council eagerly awaits the community’s final recommendations.”
The ESPP conclusions are eagerly awaited, as delays in reaching agreement on which collider should follow the LHC are viewed by the community as a risk to CERN’s leadership and its potential to attract interest from scientists across the world.
Following rich dialogue at the Open Symposium, discussions will continue in the coming months. Together with a second round of input from the national communities, which is to be submitted by 14 November, they will provide the basis for the final Strategy recommendations to be drafted in December.
“I am pleased to see so many colleagues from Europe and beyond participating actively in debating the scientific input received from the particle physics community in order to define the next large accelerator project that will allow CERN and Europe to maintain their leading role in our field,” said Karl Jakobs, Strategy Secretary. “In addition, the scientific goals and priorities in other areas of physics were discussed. We anticipate further rich input and discussion as the 2026 ESPP update enters its final strait.”