Visit to AstroCeNT of top-level delegation from CNRS

On Friday 21 February 2020 three high-level officials from CNRS visited AstroCeNT. With annual budget of over 3.2 billion Euro, National Center for Scientific Research (in French, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, or CNRS), is the main state research organisation in France, largest in Europe.

A CNRS delegation headed by Professor Alain Schuhl, the CNRS Chief Research Officer, who was accompanied by Dr Christophe Paoli, Attaché for Science and Academic Cooperation of the French Embassy in Poland, met with AstroCeNT’s director, Professor Leszek Roszkowski and the team leaders.

Professor Schuhl gave a talk about CNRS’ structure, funding of science in France and the forms of the Centre’s international cooperation. Professor Roszkowski presented AstroCeNT’s scientific agenda and recent progress and achievements. He emphasised cooperation with AstroCeNT’s strategic international partner, Astroparticle and Cosmology (APC) Laboratory – the internationally leading French institute located in Paris. A final presentation was given remotely by Professor Stavros Katsanevas, the director of European Gravitational Observatory, and chairman of the International Scientific Committee of AstroCeNT. He emphasised that AstroCeNT’s scientific profile and directions align very well with the current roadmap of ApPEC.

The French guests also visited an electronics laboratory that is currently being set up, and chatted with some of AstroCeNT’s scientific researchers, including Professor Paola Arial Reyes (a visitor from Chile on a NAWA grant) and a joint (cotutelle) PhD student with APC, Théo Hugues.

Some photos from the event can be found here.