New project directorate for organizing Einstein Telescope

1 April 2021

Senior physicists Fernando Ferroni of INFN in Italy and Jo van den Brand of Nikhef in The Netherlands have been appointed as the new Project Directorate for the Einstein Telescope (ET) organization.

Einstein Telescope will be the largest ever ground-based observatory for studying gravitational waves. The submission of the ET ESFRI application is a stimulating incentive for an acceleration of actions; a new phase has been entered. Successful realization of ET, a large and challenging research infrastructure, needs a huge and concerted effort from all angles: political institutions, research organizations and the scientific community.

Fernando Ferroni, INFN.

In view of these developments, the coordinators of the project (INFN and Nikhef) have extended the organization of the Einstein Telescope. A new Project Directorate is installed, with the task to pave the way to a solid and sustainable ET organization and – among other things – the important task of monitoring, stimulating and developing an effective interface between project organization and the scientific community. The Project Directorate is further responsible to control time schedules, priorities, and budgetary constraints.

The new Project Directorate will be filled by prof Fernando Ferroni (Italian National for Nuclear Physics INFN) and prof Jo van den Brand (National institute for subatomic physics Nikhef). They will report to the coordinating institutes about the progress in all action lines. With that an interim project management structure is in place until a more formalized governance structure is established for the Design and Preparation phase.