EGO welcomes new observer members from Belgium, Spain and Poland

We are proud to announce that several new institutions from Belgium, Spain and Poland are joining, as observer members, the EGO council, the governing body of the European Gravitational Observatory, composed of members nominated by the funding institutions. 

The Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) and the French Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), the original founding agencies of EGO, were later joined by NWO-I, the Foundation for Dutch Scientific Research Institutes, who became an Observer in 2006 and a Full Member in 2021.

The new observer members that will join the three funding agencies are the Spanish Institute for High Energy Physics (IFAE), The Polish Consortium of the Virgo Project composed of several research and academic Polish institutions and the Belgian Universities, already members of the Virgo Collaboration.

“In 2022, new statutes of the EGO consortium were signed, especially allowing the possibility for new associate members to join EGO –  stated EGO Council president and Deputy Scientific Director of IN2P3/CNRS, Vincent Poireau –  The EGO council was delighted to welcome, during the last Council meeting that took place in Lyon in July, representatives from Belgium, Poland, and Spain, which are already all important contributors of Virgo, as new observer members. We sincerely hope that they all will be willing to become future members of the EGO consortium!”

“IFAE is deeply honoured to be welcomed to the EGO Council as an Observer Institution” said Eugenio Coccia (IFAE Director),” we are looking forward  to contributing to the success of the Laboratory. With time, in coordination with the rest of Spanish institutions and in close contact with the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, IFAE will explore and assess the opportunity for Spain to become a full member of EGO  in the future.”

“Observer status is an important step for Poland to become an associate member of the Council.” said Tomasz Bulik (University of Warsaw) and Andrzej Krolak (Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences) who will represent the Polish Consortium of the Virgo Project.

“The Belgian universities participating in the Virgo Experiment are deeply honoured to be welcomed to the EGO Council –  said Giacomo Bruno (Université catholique de Louvain) and Tjonnie Li (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) – We are looking forward to contributing to the success of the Laboratory. In the future, in coordination with the funding agencies FNRS and FWO, the Belgian institutions will consider the possibility of becoming a full member of EGO.”

“The entry of new European institutions into EGO, with observer status, is an important step, which once again testifies how the focus on gravitational wave research is  relevant for most European countries – said the Director of EGO director, Massimo Carpinelli – This research community continues to grow stronger in view of the extraordinary scientific endeavour of the next generation detector in Europe, the Einstein Telescope.

The Polish Consortium of the Virgo Project is composed of the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Consortium leader), Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences, National Center for Nuclear Research, Academic Computer Centre Cyfronet AGH, University of Bialystok, Jagiellonian University, University of Warsaw, University of Zielona Gora;

The universities in Belgium who are members of the Virgo Collaboration are Université catholique de Louvain, Université de Liège, Université libre de Bruxelles, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Universiteit Antwerp, Universiteit Gent, Vrije Universiteit Brussel.