Astrocent — Particle Astrophysics Science and Technology Centre is proud to announce that it has been awarded a grant of 15 million EUR in the Teaming for Excellence call of Horizon Europe programme of the European Commission. This amount will be doubled to the total of 30 million EUR from mandatory matching funding from Poland. This funding will support the transformation and elevation of the existing AstroCeNT centre into a new interdisciplinary institute, Astrocent Plus (AC+).
AstroCeNT was founded in July 2018 within the International Research Agenda (IRA) programme with the grant of nearly 38M PLN from the Foundation for Polish Science. Set up as a new administrative unit of the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences, AstroCeNT aimed to establish itself as an international Centre of Excellence in astroparticle physics. Over the course of five and a half years, it achieved significant success on the international scene and now plays an important role in large international experiments in dark matter, neutrino and gravitational wave research. Development and application of scientific computing methods and theoretical research in particle astrophysics complement the experimental and technological activities.
From its inception to the present day, Astrocent’s mission has been to bridge the gap between leading-edge science and industry, fostering innovation and collaboration in Poland, in Europe and beyond, bringing multiple benefits to society.
“We are thrilled about this new opportunity,” said Prof. Leszek Roszkowski, the head of Astrocent. “This grant will enable us to expand our research capabilities and establish a new model of modern research management in Poland, setting a precedent for future scientific institutions in the Widening countries”.
Project Partners:
– Centrum Astronomiczne im. Mikołaja Kopernika Polskiej Akademii Nauk (NCAC PAN)
– Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
– Université Paris Cité (UPC)
– Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI)
– Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)
– Centrum Lukasiewicz (LC)
– Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute (MI)
Teaming for Excellence
Teaming for Excellence (TfE) is a leading action of Horizon Europe under the objective of building up Research and Innovation (R&I) capacities in countries with reduced R&I performance to enable them to advance to the competitive edge at European and international level. Teaming actions will create new or modernise existing centres of excellence in Widening countries through strategic partnerships with leading institutions abroad. The impact will be amplified by the conditionality of securing complementary investment from structural funds or other sources.
