HADRON-2030 - Access to physics with hadrons at the frontier of knowledge : fundamental research and applications

The strong interaction is one of the cornerstones of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, and its experimental and theoretical study attracts an active community of about 2.500 researchers in Europe. The list of open fundamental questions at the frontier of our current knowledge in the strong interaction is very rich. It includes (i) the structure of hadrons (ii) exotic hadron states, (iii) properties of dense quark matter, (iv) hot and dense quark-gluon plasma, and (v) precision tests of the SM in the quest for physics beyond the SM.
Such research topics are studied with particle accelerators from very low energies up to the high energies in the multi-TeV regime at the LHC. The consortium includes 15 transnational facilities located in Europe and United States out of which 3 are ESFRI landmark infrastructures. It includes also 6 Virtual Access infrastructures and 49 academic or research organizations.
HADRON-2030 aims at critically advancing our fundamental understanding of the strong interaction by offering Transnational Access (TA) to flagship facilities and by coherent development of the research resources, thereby increasing knowledge exchange between EU groups and maximising scientific progress. The project also exploits the innovation potential in applied research by engaging with EU industry for the production of detector systems and by developing applications beyond fundamental physics, e.g. for medical imaging.
HADRON-2030 will lead to enhanced coordination within the European hadron, nuclear and particle physics communities, leveraging EU and national resources. The project will explore the limits of our current understanding of the strong interaction and hadrons, develop novel detector technologies, and will provide access to the world-class infrastructure, benefiting thousands of researchers participating in ongoing and future fundamental physics projects, and contributing to maintaining Europe's leadership in the field.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them

Project details

Scientific responsability: Giuseppe Ciullo

Funding source: HORIZON EUROPE 

Call: HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01

Start date 01/10/2026 - end date 30/09/2030

EU contribution: 10.046.914,80 €
EU contribution to UniFe: 31.250,00 €

Participants

  • Univerzita Karlova, Czechia (CZ) - Coordinator
  • Ceske Vysoke Uceni Technicke v Praze, Czechia (CZ)
  • Jyvaskylan Yliopisto, Finland (FI)
  • Commissariat a l Energie Atomique et aux Energies, France (FR)
  • Grand Accelerateur National d'Ions Lourds, France (FR)
  • Gsi Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung, Germany (DE)
  • Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat Mainz, Germany (DE)
  • Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Bonn, Germany (DE)
  • Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitaet Frankfurt, Germany (DE)
  • Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Germany (DE)
  • Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule Aachen, Germany (DE)
  • Universitaet Regensburg, Germany (DE)
  • Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Germany (DE)
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron Desy, Germany (DE)
  • Universitaet Muenster, Germany (DE)
  • Technische Universitat Darmstadt, Germany (DE)
  • Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Italy (IT)
  • Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Italy (IT)
  • Politecnico di Milano, Italy (IT)
  • Universita degli Studi di Palermo, Italy (IT)
  • Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy (IT)
  • Universita degli Studi di Torino, Italy (IT)
  • Universita degli Studi di Ferrara, Italy (IT)
  • Narodowe Centrum Badan Jadrowych, Poland (PL)
  • The Henryk Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear, Poland (PL)
  • Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland (PL)
  • Uniwersytet Jagiellonski, Poland (PL)
  • Laboratorio de Instrumentacao e Fisica Experimental de Particulas Lip, Portugal (PT)
  • Institutul National de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Pentru Fizica si Inginerie Nucleara-Horia Hulubei, Romania (RO)
  • Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain (ES)
  • Universitat de Barcelona, Spain (ES)
  • Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigacio, Spain (ES)
  • Universitat de Valencia, Spain (ES)
  • Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Spain (ES)
  • Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain (ES)
  • Universidad del Pais Vasco/ Euskal Herriko Uniber, Spain (ES)
  • Organisation Europeenne pour la Recherche Nucleaire, Switzerland (CH)
  • Paul Scherrer Institut, Switzerland (CH)
  • The University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (GB)
  • The University of Manchester, United Kingdom (GB)
  • University of York, United Kingdom (GB)
  • University of Glasgow, United Kingdom (GB)
  • The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (GB)
  • Brookhaven Science Associates Llc, United States (US)
  • Oesterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Austria (AT)