I.FAST CBI 2024: Accelerators for Healthcare

23 July to 1st August 2024 in Archamps (Greater Geneva), France

No, you don’t have to be a physicist to join the I.FAST Challenge Based Innovation “Particle Accelerators for the Environment”! Tackling environmental challenges requires a wide range of skills.

  • If you are currently studying at a European university in the final year of a Bachelor’s or in a Master’s degree in: Life science, Medicine / Pharmacy, Chemistry, Physics, Engineering
  • If you want to use your academic knowledge and interpersonal skills to address a pressing societal issue
  • If you thrive on interdisciplinary teamwork in an international environment

Then the I.FAST CBI is for you!

 

Accelerators for Healthcare 2024 is the third edition of the I.FAST CBI, bringing together 24 students from European universities.

The programme is divided into 3 parts:

  • Early July: four online introductory seminars about accelerators and their medical applications.
  • 23 – 31st July : the challenge itself held at ESI Archamps including a visit of CERN.
  • 1st August: presentation of projects to a panel of experts at CERN.
CERN workshop

The I.FAST CBI Experience

During the challenge at ESI participants will work in 4 multidisciplinary teams. Within the team, each student will look at the problem from the perspective of their own field. Inspired by I.FAST’s goal to create a broad Open Innovation ecosystem, participants will work in a spirit of collaboration rather than competition, both within each team and between the teams themselves.

The intensive programme includes interactive talks and seminars, teamwork guided by expert mentors, an inspiring day at CERN, the world’s leading particle accelerator facility, a lake-side rest day in beautiful Annecy, and concludes with teams pitching their projects to a panel of experts also at CERN.

Accommodation and meal costs are covered by the project, as well as travel expenses to and from Archamps (Geneva) up to a limit of €300.

Apply now to join the third I.FAST CBI, to be held in Archamps, France (Greater Geneva) from 23 July to 1st August. The deadline for applications is February 26.

Testimonies

Steering Committee

Prof. Philip BURROWS
University of Oxford

Dr. Nicolas DELERUE
IJCLab, CNRS & Paris-Saclay University

Bob HOLLAND
ESI

Dr. Elias METRAL
CERN

Dr. Louis RINOLFI
ESI

Dr. Valeriia STAROVOITOVA
IAEA

Dr. Maurizio VRETENAR
CERN

“As a researcher in the field, raising public awareness of the important role played by particle accelerators in today’s society is very important to me. I have led several projects to raise such awareness and the I.FAST Challenge “Accelerators for Society” is an exciting opportunity to do so in an international multidisciplinary context.”

 

Nicolas Delerue
IJCLab, CNRS et Université Paris-Saclay,
Team Leader I.FAST Challenge

Project resources | IFAST

What is I.FAST ?

Particle accelerators are well-known as the workhorses of fundamental research in physics. Indeed, some accelerators, such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, are amongst the largest scientific tools on Earth. But beyond major scientific discoveries, tens of thousands of smaller accelerators are in daily use around the world in fields as diverse as industrial quality control, healthcare, the agri-food industry and archaeology.

The EU-funded H2020 project I.FAST (Innovation Fostering in Accelerator Science and Technology) aims to boost innovation in and from the particle accelerator research community. Amongst its objectives is the support of the ongoing transfer of particle accelerator technology into applied science and societal applications, with a view to addressing global challenges, particularly in the fields of medicine and the environment.

ESI is proud to be an associate partner of I.FAST, with responsibility for co-organising and hosting the I.FAST Challenge “Accelerators for Society”. The challenge brings together students from different academic backgrounds to explore ways of using accelerator technology to address some of the major challenges affecting society as a whole.