Special Edition: JUAS 2025 will be held at CERN
Course 1 (13 Jan → 14 Feb 2025)
Course 2 (17 Feb → 21 Mar 2025)
Deadline to apply : 10 November 2024
Welcome from the Director
After almost a century of spectacular innovation and development, particle accelerators continue to drive scientific discovery, human welfare and economic growth in fields as disparate as medical therapy, material science, biology, nuclear physics, matter in extreme conditions, and the probing of the fundamental particles and forces of Nature.
The technologies that have built our modern world, and the conceptual framework through which we perceive it, would be unimaginable without them.
The Joint Universities Accelerator School (JUAS) has provided postgraduate-level education in the science and technology of particle accelerators to well over a thousand students since 1994. Most have earned credits towards Masters or Doctoral degrees at our Partner Universities in Europe, while students at other universities around the world and early-career professionals have sought to enhance their applicable knowledge and skills. Many have gone on to pursue successful careers in large accelerator laboratories such as CERN, in industry or in universities.
In 1996 I myself attended JUAS as part of my postgraduate studies in Grenoble. The school was an outstanding springboard for my career in particle accelerators at CERN. I owe JUAS a lot and take on the role of Director with pride and a firm commitment to ensuring JUAS offers young physicists and engineers a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the discipline.
I encourage all those wishing to embark on a career in the fascinating field of particle accelerators to apply. You will find all practical details in the following pages.
Dr. Elias MÉTRAL
Senior accelerator physicist at CERN Beams Dept
Continuing the work undertaken by previous JUAS directors : Marcelle Rey-Campagnolle (1994–2000), Joël Le Duff (2001–2005), François Méot (2006–2010), Louis Rinolfi (2011–2016), Philippe Lebrun (2017–2020) and John Jowett (2021)
About JUAS
Taught by leading European particle accelerator specialists, JUAS is an international graduate school designed for highly motivated scientists and engineers currently studying to complete a Master’s degree or preparing a doctoral thesis. Early career professionals are also encouraged to apply.
Students are required to have a good knowledge of general physics at the Bachelor’s level. Prerequisites include elementary knowledge of special relativity, electromagnetism, nuclear physics and mathematical methods of physics (vector analysis, vector spaces and matrices, differential & partial differential equations, Laplace & Fourier transforms). Some knowledge of signal theory could also be useful. Refresher courses and tutorials are provided in some of these matters, and must be studied before the start of the course.
JUAS delivers a regularly updated, academically accredited programme in partnership with CERN and a cluster of 13 European universities and the LASCALA Erasmus Mundus joint master degree.
JUAS is a long-standing academic collaboration :
Programme
The full programme covers essential topics during 10 weeks from January to March, comprising 2 consecutive courses, which can be taken together or separately :
Each course lasts 5 weeks, comprising approximately 100 hours of lectures backed up by live tutorials, computer sessions and group work. Written examinations enable students to earn ECTS credits from their home university.
Lectures and tutorials are complemented by a series of prospective seminars given by leading accelerator scientists. Participants also have the opportunity to follow practical sessions and virtual visits.
Student testimonies
The JUAS courses are a unique opportunity to immerse yourself into the accelerator field. With hands on experiences, expert lectures and wonderful camaraderie, JUAS is an intensive program that will only leave you wishing for more.
The visits, the workshops and the practical days were particularily useful to touch with hands what we have seen during the lectures. The interaction with the professors and other students is one of the most valuable aspect of this intense experience. I’ve met many future colleagues, and many friendships born here will last a lifetime.
As a capable but by no means top-of-the-class physicist, I came to JUAS expecting to have to work like hell to keep up. I wasn’t wrong, but I’ve never had so much fun. I learned a great deal and gained so much with so many bright people for a few weeks. Highly recommended!
JUAS opened new horizons for me in the world of particle accelerators, with amazing insights into their applications and also to virtually access the most important accelerator facilities in the world.
I am very satisfied with the courses I followed and have already started to see the effect of them on the quality on my PhD work.
With experts and professors from CERN and universities all over Europe presenting their fields, densely but passionately, there is no better way of starting a career in particle accelerators in my opinion.
It was a one-of-a-kind experience, even though online. The people at ESI made us feel very welcome and went above and beyond to make it an exciting 5 weeks. A wide range of topics were covered and I was able to decide what field I wanted to pursue in future.
My experience at JUAS course 1 was really positive. I had the chance to learn from really well-prepared professors who were always available for insights/extra explanations. Despite the remote format, the school gave me the possibility to know other realities in the accelerator world and to meet many interesting people with similar aspirations.
As a student with a background in electronic engineering, it was a great experience to learn all about accelerator physics. The course covers all the fundamentals as well as real-life applications in the field. The highlight for me was the accelerator design workshop.
JUAS allowed me to enter my PhD without any gaps and with a high level of preparation. The lectures, although online, were carried out in an excellent way with teachers who were able to make us passionate about the subjects.
JUAS enabled me to have contact with many accelerator specialists, which gave me a great overview of these machines at a general level. This is so important for someone like me who intends to make my career in particle accelerators.
The school allowed to me to deepen my knowledge in technologies and applications of particle accelerators, to acquire cutting-edge information from the lectures and seminars and to expand my working network. Considering the logistical difficulties, the organization of the school in the on-line format was excellent.
Despite the limitations due to the pandemic, it was a fascinating journey into accelerator technologies and their applications guided by exceptional experts.
By providing a comprehensive and coherent course programme, JUAS really fulfilled my expectation of building a strong foundation in the field. I have gained so much more understanding in accelerator physics.
It was great to have the accelerator design course and workshop as it was an occasion to put all we saw together and to have an overview on what designing a particle accelerator may be.
I cannot imagine the time it would have taken and the volumes of books and magazines I would have had to read to get this level of experience. The content of the lectures has been rich and, in some cases, challenging to understand. The fact that after just five weeks at JUAS I am already…
The lecturers are all experts passionate about sharing their knowledge. This is really the key asset of JUAS.