On 27 November at the University Foundation in Brussels, the NuPECC (Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee) presented its fifth Long Range Plan (LRP 2017) for Nuclear Physics in Europe, which takes into account the evolution of basic and applied research in this field and marks the stages of the programme for the coming years. NuPECC’s mission, since its foundation in 1988, has been to formulate suggestions and recommendations for Nuclear Physics research in Europe, and for this purpose it has in the past developed four strategic reports (1991, 1997, 2004 and 2010). The final product of the process concluded in Brussels is the volume “NuPECC Long Range Plan 2017: Perspectives for Nuclear Physics”, containing recommendations for future developments in Nuclear Physics research, in the various infrastructures and in applications in this field, aimed at investigating key issues such as nuclear matter under different conditions, nuclear interactions and the origin of the elements. Information from nuclear physics on these topics is fundamental for the description of cosmological phenomena, such as neutron stars and their evolution, stellar explosions and energy production in stars. The LRP 2017 was presented in Brussels by the President of NuPECC, Angela Bracco, a Professor at the University of Milan and a researcher at the INFN Milan section, who emphasised, among other things, the leading position of Europe in this area and the collaborative effort among the various countries, crucial to maintaining such leadership. Among the 90 participants in the event, in addition to representatives of the INFN management and laboratories – with coordinating roles in the European nuclear physics programme – were ESFRI President Giorgio Rossi, ESFRI-PSE President, José Luis Martinez, the Head of the Research Infrastructures Unit of the European Commission, Ales Fiala, European Physical Society President, Rüdiger Voss, and FAIR Scientific Director, P. Giubellino.
27 November 2017
