Head start: CERN approves Pakistan’s application for associate membership

It will create learning, economic opportunities.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has been given associate membership of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) Council.

The decision was taken at the council’s meeting on Thursday, according to a press release issued by the National Centre for Physics (NCP), Quaid-i-Azam University on Friday.

Pakistan had submitted the application for the associate membership in February 2013.

“The only practical step to attain associate membership is to sign an official document during the CERN director general’s visit to Pakistan,” NCP Research Director Dr Hafeez Hoorani said. The visit is expected to take place in the next few months.

Located on the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland, CERN conducts some of the most complex scientific experiments possible in a bid to understand the structure of the universe. It is considered the birthplace of the World Wide Web and is home to the world’s largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

CERN members include 21 countries, mostly from Europe. It also has three associate members and five observer states.

In February this year, a four-member CERN Technical Team (CTT) led by CERN Research and Scientific Computing Director Dr Sergio Bertolucci visited Pakistan as part of the evaluation process for the associate membership (AM) application forwarded by Pakistan.

Besides holding meetings with scientific bodies, the team also held met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to discuss relevant issues.

The CTT further assessed and evaluated the scientific, educational, engineering and industrial activities being undertaken in Pakistan. The team also visited several universities, scientific organisations and industrial units in the country. Bertolucci submitted a report to the CERN Council declaring Pakistan fit for associate membership.

He had lauded Pakistani engineers and scientists and stated, “Pakistan has a first-class pool of scientists and engineers, a requirement to become an associate member of CERN.”

He added that Pakistan and CERN are working in close collaboration from quite some time and the work from Pakistan’s industries is favourable.

The status of associate member is also the pre-stage to membership. As an associate member, Pakistan would be entitled to attend open and restricted sessions of the CERN Council. It will also be entitled to other benefits, including staff positions for scientists and engineers, access to various educational programmes (summer student, doctoral student and technical student), and engineering contracts for Pakistani industry.

“Associate membership will open the doors of mega science experiments for Pakistani scientists and will also allow Pakistani industry to participate in bids for CERN contracts across various sectors,” Hoorani explained.

Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Chairman Dr Ansar Parvez said that the membership will create learning and transfer-of-technology opportunities.

According to scientists at the NCP, after gaining membership, Pakistani companies will be able to individually cater to the organisation’s demands by picking up tenders advertised by CERN, which will help local industry and economy.

The NCP had become an LHC Computing Grid node in 2004, which enabled it to receive data from LHC experiments. Researchers will gain access to an invaluable amount of data that cannot be attained from anywhere else.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2014.