Minutes of the 92nd Meeting of the ISOLDE Collaboration Committee
held on November 5th 2021
Present: K. Flanagan, S. Freeman, H. Fynbo, L. Gaffney, G. Georgiev, S. Gilardoni, K. Johnston, C. Mihai, E. Nacher, D. Naidoo, A. Nannini, J. Pakarinen, M. Pfützner, G. Rainovski, J.A. Rodriguez, L. Schweikhard, N. Severijns, S. Siem, E. Siesling, J. Vollaire
Excused: M. Venhart
Absent: J. Cederkall, A. Lagoyannis
Invited: M. Grasso (P.T.), F. Farget (P.T.), G. Neyens
The meeting, held in person and via Zoom due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, starts at 09:00 h
1. Introductory remarks
The ISCC chairperson, K. Flanagan, opens the meeting and conveys apologies from M. Venhart for his absence. E. Nacher is welcomed as the new Spanish representative and the committee thanks L. Fraile, the former member for Spain, for his time and commitment to both the ISCC and ISOLDE. K. Flanagan welcomes G. Neyens, who will take over as ISCC chairperson in 2022, to the meeting as an observer. The chairperson also welcomes M. Grasso, Deputy Director of IN2P3, as well as F. Farget, former Deputy Director of IN2P3, who both toured the ISOLDE facility on Thursday 4th November and have been invited to attend the part of the meeting related to collaboration matters.
2. Approval of the Minutes of the last meeting of June 16th, 2021
The minutes from the previous meeting are approved.
3. Collaboration matters – S. Freeman
The new ISOLDE physics group leader expresses his gratitude to G. Neyens for an efficient and detailed handover and then summarises some of his observations since joining the group. Impressive collaborations between operations, target and ion-source and RILIS teams ensure an excellent overall delivery of the facility while the technical and physics coordinators, as well as user support are critical links communicating quickly and extremely well. Collaboration between in-house groups and users is impressive and contributes to a highly successful physics output, although there is a need for fostering of personal contact and less reliance on electronic transactions. The user community, as well as the physics group itself, is youthful and energetic which bodes well for the future of the facility. These are some of the aspects that contribute to the positive impression of the ISOLDE facility that is expressed at CERN. However, while CERN holds ISOLDE in high regard, the fact that CERN resources are currently very limited seems to be a constant theme.
Turning to financial matters, S. Freeman informs the committee that all ISOLDE collaboration contributions that were expected by this point have been received.
After the conclusion of ENSAR2, the ISCC agreed to allocate 60kCHF to user support during the running period June to November 2021. The committee is told that this funding has been allocated to experiments in proportion to the number of scheduled shifts and, after the experiment spokespersons were asked to indicate and prioritise those individuals needing support, an initial allocation to individuals was made by the ISOLDE Spokesperson and then confirmed by the ISCC chairperson. This was done at three points during the year corresponding to the publication of each section of the physics schedule. Using the CERN daily subsistence rate of 138CHF, the 60kCHF corresponds to 435 days of support. For the 148 days of physics scheduled between June and November, 425 days of support have been paid or allocated while 10 days remain unallocated. The recipients of this funding are, in general, those without access to travel funds and mostly, although not exclusively, early career researchers. S. Freeman presents the distribution by country of the user funding and explains that the distribution is slightly skewed towards certain countries due to the strong roles they play in COLLAPS, CRIS and ISS, which both had several runs scheduled during 2021. However, the distribution is roughly in line with ENSAR2 TNA payments at ISOLDE. The committee approves the allocation procedure and the request to use the 10 remaining funding days to give support to experiments running during the winter physics period.
The committee is informed that the EUROLABS application was submitted to the EU in September 2021, which, if approved, could provide about 315kCHF TNA funding at ISOLDE. A decision is expected in February/March next year but a starting date for the project would not be until some months later. The committee decides to continue supporting scheduled experiments in 2022 at a similar funding level to 2021, using similar procedures. The allocation procedure should follow the publication of sections of the physics schedule and be reported at each ISCC meeting. Committee members must inform the ISOLDE Spokesperson if there are restrictions on users from their member state receiving this type of funding.
S. Freeman presents two proposed updates to the annexes of the ISOLDE MoU. The first is the update of the Spanish representative in Annex 1, which is approved by the committee. The second proposed update is to replace the 2008 edition of CERN General Conditions, Annex 14, for the new version. This is the only legally binding document applied to all collaborations performing experiments at CERN. S. Freeman tells the committee that he plans to confer with other CERN experiments before presenting details for discussion on the implementation of this document at ISOLDE at a future ISCC meeting. M. Grasso tells the committee that the new CERN General Conditions represent a positive step forward in resolving the issues raised by IN2P3 at the last ISCC meeting and indicated that their adoption is likely to allow continued French involvement in the collaboration. On behalf of the collaboration, S. Freeman thanks M. Grasso for her statement and states that the collaboration is very happy about the possibility of continued French membership. The committee approves the collaboration’s adherence to the new CERN General Conditions and the change to Annex 14 of the MoU. K. Flanagan reminds ISCC members that it is their responsibility to ensure that their funding agency representative named in Annex 2 is up to date.
The Chairperson thanks M. Grasso and F. Farget for their contributions and they leave the meeting.
S. Freeman explains to the committee that the Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), in Iran has been involved in a number of experiments at CERN since 2001 and is a formal member of the CMS collaboration. The institute already has a postdoc residing at CERN and taking part in condensed matter physics at ISOLDE and the collaboration has been approached by M.M. Najafabadi, the Head of the School of Particles and Accelerators at IPM, with an interest in projects at ISOLDE and achieving institutional membership. This possibility has been discussed with the CERN Directorate, who are content with a possible institutional membership for IPM.
4. Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM) Presentation – M.M. Najafabadi
An overview of IPM and its activities is presented. The Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, established in 1989, is affiliated to the Iranian Ministry of Science and Technology and takes charge of several national and international projects. One such project is the collaboration with the CMS experiment at CERN; the activities related to this project are briefly summarised.
M.M. Najafabadi tells the committee that IPM is interested in joining and collaborating with ISOLDE. As well as the present IPM postdoctoral researcher taking part in ISOLDE Solid State Physics, the institute plans to hire another postdoc and involve PhD students in future projects. Of particular interest are hardware projects related to HIE-ISOLDE, however, more discussion and knowledge is needed to find a suitable project matched to IPM expertise. M.M. Najafabadi plans to visit CERN in March 2022, which would be an excellent opportunity for discussions, with ISOLDE technical groups in particular, in order to identify possible projects for collaboration.
The committee decides that S. Freeman should transmit its thanks to M.M. Najafabadi for his institute’s interest in ISOLDE. It was suggested to initiate initial discussions via Zoom, to make the most of the visit in March 2022.
5. ISOLDE Operations, YETS and plans for 2022 – J. Vollaire
The committee is told that, since the last ISCC meeting, there has been excellent performance and availability of the different systems at ISOLDE including the new frontends. J. Vollaire briefly summarises the technical issues that have arisen and states that any problems encountered have been promptly addressed and without significantly affecting the physics schedule, thanks to the availability and commitment of the experts concerned.
The production and operation of targets in 2022 is summarised. There were 15 new targets produced and 8 old targets were reused. The forced pre-fabrication of uranium carbide targets worked well overall, and it allowed for a better distribution of the production workload. Prolonged outgassing was seen from some targets so outgassing and carburization pump stands are being re-installed ready for 2022. J. Vollaire informs the committee that production of target material went well, despite one critical staff member being on sick leave, due to students and fellows stepping in to help. However, this then had the knock-on effect of negatively impacting material development.
The committee is told that the new fast tape station is working extremely well and R. Lica is thanked for his efforts to achieve this. However, the tape station is missing an α-detector which limits its use for heavy systems; the tape station does have a free slot where such a detector could be installed.
A brief overview of RILIS operation in 2021 is presented. Overall RILIS was used for 21 weeks out of the 23 weeks of ISOLDE operation. This consisted of 17 physics runs and 4 target and ion source development (TISD) runs. The new Pb laser ionisation scheme first developed in January 2021 was first used on-line in September and was shown to improve efficiency by a factor 10. As part of the LISA project many actinide schemes were tested as well as molecular extraction.
The committee is informed that unfortunately the LIST TISD run in October was unsuccessful due to a failed connector coupling. However, after a manual intervention, promising preliminary results have been achieved with stable beam. Coupling modification to solve the issue is ongoing.
J. Vollaire summarises the minimum required maintenance and repair interventions for the target area and HV room during the end of year shutdown (YETS) and lists the key dates for the target area and low-energy beam lines. The first protons are due to be delivered to ISOLDE on Monday 21st February 2022 allowing commissioning with beam to take place until 14th March when low energy physics is scheduled to start. The key dates during YETS for REX/HIE ISOLDE are presented with the planning being driven by cryo-maintenance as well as the warm-up and cool-down cycle; a study earlier this year found that solutions to this were currently unaffordable. Stable beam commissioning at HIE ISOLDE should begin on 25th May with physics due to start on 20th July. The activities planned at REX/HIE ISOLDE during the YETS are briefly summarised; this includes the reinstallation of MINIBALL that is expected to run in 2022.
K. Flanagan expresses the committee’s appreciation and thanks for all the hard work and achievements of all the technical teams.
6. Beam Dumps Preparatory Project – A.-P. Bernardes
The reasons behind the need to replace the beam dumps at ISOLDE are summarised. The present ISOLDE configuration dates back to 1991/1992 when the beam dumps were designed for a proton beam of 1 GeV. The dumps are now operating at their limit in terms of temperature and mechanical stress. There are signs of corrosion, condensation and molten material on the visible face, but the actual status of the dumps is not known as they cannot be accessed. During LS2, the PS booster beam was upgraded to 2 GeV, but ISOLDE is the only facility at CERN that cannot profit from this upgrade due to the beam dump limitations and the required BTY line upgrade.
A.-P. Bernardes explains that the current beam dumps were not designed to be removed and are now covered with activated earth making the removal of the beam dumps extremely challenging and only possible during a CERN Long Shutdown. Preliminary planning estimates that 2 years are needed for this project so, if approved, it will have an impact on physics, but it is an investment in the future of the ISOLDE facility.
It is explained that the key requirements of the ISOLDE Beam Dump Replacement Study (IBDRS) are to ensure that the replacement dumps would meet current, as well as future, operational needs and adhere to modern radiation protection standards. The parameters for the dump and shielding design are still under discussion; the parameters will impact the cost of the project so a balance must be found. The study, that will also consider the final decommissioning and disposal of the new dumps, has been split into 7 work packages and a coordination meeting takes place every two weeks. It is clarified that the IBDRS has been funded by CERN, but funding has not yet been secured for the actual replacement of the beam dumps.
A.-P. Bernardes informs the committee that, after 6 months of brainstorming, two concepts have been selected to be studied in parallel: the BASIC concept and the FLEXI concept. Both are briefly presented. The less expensive BASIC concept would involve two shafts containing new removable shielding meaning the actual dumps would not be buried in earth. However, the recycled shielding outside the shafts would remain buried in earth. This concept could include a “Bridge” option that would allow access to the dumps in case of failure and would be the ALARA solution as it allows remote-handling operation.
At present, access to the HRS magnet and beam line is not possible and, due to their age, repair is likely to be required at some point in the future. HRS access is not part of the BASIC concept but could be part of a future target area consolidation request. However, money could be saved if the third shaft required for HRS access is approved and funded at the same time as the beam dump replacement. The construction of a third shaft would cost approximately 500kCHF if treated as a separate project.
The FLEXI concept would involve the construction of a new 350m2 building on top of the target stations and the full shielding, dump and Boris tube, that houses all the HV cables, would be accessible. This concept would allow adherence to the new maintenance philosophy of replace, repair, and reuse, thus reducing radioactive waste. The Frontend would be moved to the new building through the material gallery and consolidation projects such as the upgrade of targets and Frontend would be possible after LS3. This would, of course, provide more possibilities and flexibilities for the future of ISOLDE. The HRS separator and beamline could be made accessible for upgrade and alignment by just making an opening in one of the walls. However, this is not foreseen as part of the FLEXI concept but could be done at a later date. The FLEXI concept could be implemented in phases with some of the work, such as the modification of the BORIS tube and target area, taking place after LS3 allowing for an easier restart.
A.-P. Bernandes explains that the next steps of the IBDRS include the circulation of the technical specification for civil engineering consultancy services; feedback from initial consultant interviews is that the time required for the dismantling phase of the project is being underestimated. Cost estimates for the shielding layout in both the BASIC and FLEXI concepts as well as for the waste disposal are being finalised ready for the project management board at the beginning of 2022. Finally, the committee is informed that a coring campaign will be performed on top of the shielding hill at ISOLDE after the beam stop in December, the results of which will be critical for the beam dump replacement study.
On behalf of the collaboration, K. Flanagan thanks A.-P. Bernandes and everyone involved for the hard work and effort already put into the study, which has already achieved impressive amounts.
S. Gilardoni reiterates that the reason for changing the beam dumps is their bad condition and that the cost envelope being considered is to achieve this and no more. Hence, the replacement of the beam dumps, that would be a step towards allowing higher energy beams to be delivered to ISOLDE, should be kept separate to the HRS access issues. The committee stresses the importance of being able to access the HRS and the need for the IBDRS to calculate the cost of providing this access both at the same time as the beam dump replacement and completely separately.
7. Overview of 4 years as group leader –G. Neyens
A brief summary of ISOLDE Physics group activities over the past 4 years, as well as some lessons learnt, is presented. The evolution of staffing levels during this period is summarised. G. Neyens asks that excellent candidates are encouraged to apply for the CERN research fellow programme and explains that the hiring of applied fellows, whose profile must fit the running of the facility, can be helped by partial funding from other sources. Over the past few years doctoral students have been funded by ERC grants ,as well as the German Gentner and Austrian and Swiss student programs; these programs require the student to have a supervisor at a university in the country concerned and are highly recommended. The number of people applying to be a CERN Scientific Associate is always high, however, it tends to be easier to get a Corresponding Associate position so G. Neyens encourages applications for the latter even though these tend to be for a shorter period.
The committee is told that the number of ISOLDE Users has increased significantly due to HIE-ISOLDE and that, while there was a reduction in registered users in 2020 due to the removal of non-active users and LS2, numbers have again started to increase with the restart of the facility.
G. Neyens summarises the development of collaboration membership during her term as ISOLDE Physics Group Leader. Bulgaria became a full member in 2021 and the Czech Technical University in Prague joined as an institute member in 2019; the Czech Republic is now preparing to become a full member. Portugal made payments to the collaboration in 2019 and 2020 without signing an agreement. The INTC has recently approved experiments at HIE-ISOLDE led by D. Galaviz (University of Lisbon) which has provoked discussions to recommence about how to achieve Portuguese membership.
The evolution of the EPIC proposal is summarised. In May 2018, a request was made by the CERN Directorate for the long-term future and major projects at ISOLDE to be considered in relation to the strategy (ESPP) update for the European particle Physics community. The main drivers behind the EPIC proposal, working alongside G. Neyens, were K. Flanagan, E. Elsen and R. Catherall and it was successfully submitted to the ESPP in December 2018 with the help of B. Blank (ISCC Chair) and K. Riisager (INTC chair). The proceedings of the two EPIC workshops held at CERN in 2019 and online in 2020 to further develop the ideas included in the EPIC proposal are in preparation, but will take longer than first anticipated.
G. Neyens then gives an overview of outreach activities during the last 4 years that are aimed at increasing the visibility of ISOLDE both at CERN and beyond. The user community is encouraged to contact K. Johnston or S. Freeman whenever they have scientific highlights so that they can be put in contact with CERN publishing.
The committee is shown that visits to ISOLDE have increased by a factor 3 in 5 years, in part thanks to the professionalisation of the visit organisation by fellow H. Heylen. G. Neyens thanks the many local PhD students, Postdocs and Fellows etc. whose enthusiastic help has also played a role in the success of these visits.
The evolution of collaboration income and expenditure since 2006 is presented and the committee were told that the present healthy financial situation means that the collaboration can afford to invest in the future of ISOLDE, although, the repayment of the HIE-ISOLDE loan for another few years should not be forgotten. It is advised that committee members ensure that all common equipment at ISOLDE is correctly included in the relevant annexes of the MoU.
G. Neyens suggests that Group for the Upgrade of ISOLDE (GUI) should meet more than once a year and that there should be more follow up on decisions taken in these meetings.
G. Neyens thanks everyone at ISOLDE, especially K. Johnston, for their collaboration during the last 4 years and, in turn, the Chairperson thanks G. Neyens for her hard work and success as ISOLDE Physics Group leader.
8. News from the ISOLDE coordinator – K. Johnston
The beam requests and the ISOLDE schedule for 2021 are reviewed. There were a total of 676 shifts requested for 2021 and those scheduled showed an inevitable bias towards local groups and those able to run remotely due to Covid restrictions making travel difficult from many countries. Protons were available for physics from 21st June to 15th November and were, in general reliable. Approximately 200 radioactive shifts have been delivered so far in 2021 to 23 experiments; the number of experiments is fewer than in previous years due to some groups running several times and the above-mentioned bias towards local groups. This year’s distribution of the scheduled and delivered shifts between the experimental setups is presented. The busy schedule continues right into the last week of the scheduled online period with the inauguration of the new GPS irradiation station that will add another layer to the complexity of ISOLDE planning.
K. Johnston explains that, after protons have stopped, there will be a period of Winter Physics during which IS663 (CRIS) and IS691 (Xe isotopes for medical imaging) are scheduled to run. Shifts for IS586 and IS672 on GPS still need to be confirmed and depend on irradiation possibilities, as well as target availability. Interruptions due to electrical tests are expected to occur during the Winter Physics period.
The draft CERN accelerator schedule for 2022 is presented with proton physics at ISOLDE from week 11 to week 48 (dates still to be confirmed by the Research Board in December). This would mean there will be 259 days for physics, which is much higher than usual. However, there will only be about 132 days available at HIE-ISOLDE as the current estimated start date is 20th July. K. Johnston informs the committee that the beam requests for the whole of 2022 will soon be sent out with a return deadline before the Christmas break. This deadline is earlier than usual due to the early start up in 2022 and the need to prepare targets for next year.
The Committee is informed that, at the end of the 2021 running period, there will be a shift backlog of 1126. The distribution of these shifts between the various types of physics/experimental setups is presented. The upcoming INTC meeting will consider proposals and letters of intent that request a total of 129 new shifts.
K. Johnston explains that CERN is still at Level 2 (yellow) on its Covid-19 scale, which means that users do not need extra approval to come on site. However, this can change with little notice. Masks and proximeters are still mandatory and remote meetings are favoured. The CERN Directorate has not yet made a firm decision on the use of Covid certification. Restrictions are still in place on the number of people allowed in a room at any one time; the maximum number allowed in the rooms in Building 508 are shown. With the increase in the number of users coming to ISOLDE, this has become more difficult to manage. The old control room, as well as the DAQ and visitor spaces, have been rearranged to allow optimal use regarding distancing and Zoom conferencing. With the help of the operations group, additional control terminals have been installed and work is ongoing to allow monitoring, for example, for advanced users from home/office. Until now, Covid restrictions seem to have worked and ISOLDE has not been affected by any shutdowns. However, if someone essential to the running of the facility is affected by Covid, this could cause a serious issue.
The situation in the experiment hall is summarised. The new GLM setup is now complete, MIRACLS installation in the area that previously housed NICOLE is ongoing, and the new Mossbauer setup is ready for commissioning. At HIE-ISOLDE, the ISS ionisation chamber and ACTAR are in now place. K. Johnston indicates to the Committee that the space next to MINIBALL and ISS is currently being transformed to create an area for safe detector storage and development. The use of Building 275 needs to be optimised as there is a high demand for offline space and storage.
The Committee is informed that, although it was hoped that the organisation of the hands-on training courses at CERN would be simplified with the change to a local trainer, the scheduling of the safety courses has not been as straightforward as expected. This has been due to the limited number of participants due to Covid travel restrictions, unexpected course cancellations and the new EP electrical course not being available every week. Problems have also been experienced by users, firstly due to the new requirement for their team leader’s signature on a safety document distributed on registration for the hands-on courses and, secondly, due to the requirement to be on site before the definite registration for the courses can be made. It is hoped to have a meeting with the Safety Training Group before the end of the year to try to solve these issues.
K. Johnston tells the Committee that virtual visits of the facility are now possible and, on showing a few of the most recent publications arising from experiments at ISOLDE, reiterates the importance of open access.
A short discussion takes place about space for storage and experiment preparation. L. Gaffney highlights the need of several experiments for a dry nitrogen storage cupboard that could be jointly funded by the experiments concerned.
9. News from the ISOLDE group – S. Freeman
The committee is informed that the decision has been made to hold the 2021 ISOLDE Workshop and users Meeting online https://indico.cern.ch/event/1073670/ . Everything had been booked for an in-person meeting but, unfortunately, CERN Covid rules have made this impossible. Reservations have already been made for next year’s event in order to have the highest possible chance of the workshop taking place at CERN. Over 50 abstracts have been received for this year’s meeting, so there was no need to extend the deadline as this compares favourably with previous years.
G. Neyens gives a brief overview of the status of the EPIC proceedings that will be published in European Physical Journal Special Topics. Progress is being made, but some vital sections are still missing input due to major time restraints of the authors concerned. Hence, it is proposed to organise a dedicated writing week, possibly in January, in order to give the opportunity to complete the work. This will mean that the journal submission deadline, which was December 2021, will have to be extended.
S. Freeman suggests that a discussion be held at the next ISCC meeting to clarify what short-term actions are needed with CERN management to best ensure the beam dump replacement and the upgrade to 2-GeV protons. The discussion also needs to include how the collaboration should go about securing longer term goals with EPIC.
The present manpower situation in the ISOLDE Physics Group is summarised by S. Freeman:
• Research Fellows: Razvan Lica – IDS (June 2020 – May 2022), Liss Vasquez Rodriquez - COLLAPS (Oct. 2020 – Sept. 2022), Erich Leichensteiner (April 2021 – March 2023), Agi Koszorus – CRIS (November 2021 – October 2023). Deadline for new applications: noon 1st March 2022.
• Applied Fellows: Markus Vilen – MR-ToF for ISOLDE and MIRACLS (October 2019 to September 2022), Bruno Olaizola – HIE-ISOLDE (September 2020 – August 2022), Frank Brown – MINIBALL (Sept. 2021 – August 2023). Deadline for new applications is the same as for Research Fellows, noon 1st March 2022. Jaren Croese, who was in receipt of a CERN Applied Fellowship at VITO from August 2021 to June 2023, has resigned effective 31st October 2021.
• Scientific Associates: Janne Pakarinen (8 months, December 2021 – July 2022), Alexandre Obertelli (1 year, September 2021 – August 2022 – partly at AD). Deadline for new applications: noon 1st March 2022.
• Corresponding Associate: Mikolaj Baranowski (5 months, July 2021 – November 2021). Deadline for new applications: noon 1st March 2022.
• Doctoral Students: Katarzyna Maria Dziubinska-Kuhn (CERN-ERC Betadrop) (October 2018 to February 2022), Karolina Kulesz (CERN-ERC Betadrop) (October 2018 to March 2022), Lukas Nies (CERN via Gentner Doctoral Program) (November 2019 to October 2022), Franziska Maier (CERN-MIRACLS via Gentner Doctoral Program) (February 2020 – January 2023), Michail Atanasakis (CERN EP-SME) (Sept. 2020 – Aug. 2023), Marcus Jankowski (CERN via Gentner Doctoral Program) (January 2021 to December 2023), Tim Lellinger (CERN via Gentner Doctoral Program) (March 2021 – February 2024).
• Staff Members: Stephan Malbrunot-Ettenbauer (February 2017 to January 2022) (ERC MIRACLS, TRIUMF-funded User from March 2022), Karl Johnston (Physics Coordinator) (October 2015 to September 2022), Sean Freeman (Physics Group Leader) (September 2021 to August 2024), Magdalena Kowalska (CERN staff member) (January 2020 - ).
• User: Jenny Weterings (User Support) (2002- )
After theirs contracts have finished, a number of CERN fellows and PhD students have remained at ISOLDE as 100% Users funded by their institutes. Committee members are urged to encourage good candidates for both Research and Applied fellowships. Both types of fellowships are treated the same at ISOLDE, but the application for each type should be tailored accordingly. S. Freeman should be informed about any applications as some may be missed in the CERN application system.
The Committees hears that the number of CERN doctoral students at ISOLDE will reduce with the end of the two ERC grants presently running at ISOLDE and emphasises the possibility of the excellent Gentner and Austrian student programs.
K. Johnston leaves the meeting while the Committee discusses the succession planning for the Physics Coordinator position. The Committee unanimously decide to extend K. Johnston’s contract as Physics Coordinator, for the final year allowed by the CERN limited duration (LD) contract, until September 2023. It is also decided that the recruitment procedure for the next Physics Coordinator should allow for as long an overlap with the present coordinator as possible. The committee acknowledges the huge amount of work and outstanding achievements made by K. Johnston so far as the ISOLDE Physics Coordinator.
16. A.O.B.
- The committee congratulates J.A. Rodriguez on receiving an indefinite CERN contract.
- As the incoming ISCC chairperson, G. Neyens proposes that the next committee meeting should be fully in person and the date will depend on the availability of suitable meeting space adhering to CERN Covid regulations.
- G. Neyens thanks K. Flanagan for his time as ISCC chairperson and for bringing many good ideas as well as an ambitious spirit to the role.
17. Dates of the next meeting
The date of the next ISCC meeting is not yet fixed.
Note added after the meeting: the next ISSC meeting will be held on Friday 4th February 2022.
Meeting ends at 15:35.
N.B. The above presentations can be found via https://indico.cern.ch/event/1072707/