Vassiliou meets MCA scientists at CERN

The Commissioner responsible for the Marie Curie Actions has visited CERN to speak to upcoming young scientists.

Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for education, culture, multilingualism and youth, spoke to academics funded by 35 research and training programmes under the Marie Curie Actions (MCA). The programme, which will continue under Horizon 2020 from FP7, will form part of the Excellent Science pillar.

Speaking to the young people at CERN, Vassiliou said: “Investing in research is a necessity for Europe to build a strong knowledge economy…we must invest in research; we must invest in you.” She added it was important to continue the strong collaboration between the EU and CERN. Presently CERN works with the European Particle Physics Latin American Network on high-energy physics.

The MCAs were first offered at CERN in 2007 and have included training in hadrontherapy in medical physics, extreme environment safety systems and advanced accelerator technology.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research is based in Geneva, Switzerland and was set up in 1954.