106th ISCC Meeting

Minutes

Present: J. Briz, J. Cederkäll (P.T.), L.M. Fraile, H. Fynbo (P.T.), G. Georgiev, A. Herzáň, H. Heylen, V. Ingeberg (replacing S. Siem), M. Kowalska, S. Leoni (P.T.), K. Lynch, H. Masenda, A. Nannini, W. Nörtershäuser, J. Pakarinen, S. Pascu (replacing C. Mihai), L. Pereira (replacing A. Koszorus), M. Pfützner, G. Rainovski, J.A. Rodríguez, E. Siesling, N. van der Meulen, J. Vollaire

Excused:

Absent:

Invited: M. Calviani

The meeting starts via Zoom at 09:00 CET

1. Welcome, approval of minutes, matters arising – J. Pakarinen

The ISCC Chairperson, J. Pakarinen, opens the 106^th meeting of the committee and welcomes the participants. The committee welcomes the new South African representative, H. Masenda, as well as J. Briz who will now represent Spain. The Chairperson informs the committee that L. Pereira and V. Ingeberg replace the Belgian representative, A. Koszorus, and the Norwegian representative, S. Siem, respectively at this meeting. Also C. Mihai, who represents Romania, will be replaced by S. Pascu at this meeting.

The agenda of the meeting and the minutes of the previous meeting are approved.

2. CERN roadmap for non-collider physics – L. Fraile

The committee is briefed on the information presented by M. Brugger, the head of the “Non-Collider Physics Roadmap”  (NCPR) taskforce, at a recent CERN Academic Training Lecture https://indico.cern.ch/event/1696414/ ; “The roadmap seeks to maximise complementarity between facilities, experiments and communities, strengthen the connection between collider and non-collider activities, and provide a transparent framework for the evaluation and integration of future initiatives.” The NCPR taskforce has been asked to develop a long-term strategic framework for CERN’s diverse scientific non-collider physics programme beyond the LHC experiments, covering fixed-target facilities, neutrino and forward-physics initiatives, antimatter, neutron and isotope facilities, and future experimental opportunities. The Non-Collider Physics Program at CERN is considered as critical and complementing the main LHC experiments and when moving towards a future new flagship program. The taskforce considers that scientific diversity at CERN has always been pursued along three axes:

• operating specialized facilities that capitalize on our unique capabilities (NA, AD/ ELENA, ISOLDE, n_TOF, etc.)
• sustaining broad ecosystem of experiments along injector chain & auxiliary to LHC
• serving as international hub coordinating European contributions to major off-site projects

As it is important to clarify options and corresponding timelines for a successful long-term future covering a very large physics landscape the taskforce will work towards establishing a science driven, community inclusive, and infrastructure/resource constrained holistic 20-year roadmap, including future decision points and a transparent well-defined process. M. Brugger’s slides show how the taskforce currently views the NCP at CERN and make a comparison between CERN and other worldwide facilities that shows the uniqueness of CERN’s capabilities.

L. Fraile tells the committee that ISOLDE is working with the task force and through the INTC and technical committees to prepare the facility’s input for the NCPR. A preliminary, non-exhaustive, list of ideas for future physics opportunities at ISOLDE is presented. Technical requirements will also need to be discussed such as consolidation, upgrades and extensions. In order to formalise the input for the ISOLDE contribution to the NCPR, a specific call for Expressions of Intent (EoIs) for programmes at ISOLDE based on existing collaborations, physics and future ideas etc. has been made for the November 2026 INTC meeting; the deadline for submissions is 7^th October. L. Fraile stresses that it is important that the ISOLDE Collaboration discusses plans for Run-4, LS4 upgrades and new ideas while working towards a consolidated programme for submission. The Collaboration also needs to establish mechanisms for preparation if required and to contribute to technical and infrastructure discussions. A NCPR workshop will take place at CERN 2^nd-4^th December 2026 at which ISOLDE will be asked to give a presentation.

A discussion takes place. While the taskforce wants to see uniqueness, improvements and what the community is behind, the committee stresses that the physics case of the input should always drive the infrastructure and technical requirements.

It is understood that the NCPR taskforce does not currently have a budget and there is no procedure for requesting funding. However, S. Leoni reports that the CERN research board will ask for priorities as this will help secure future funding and avoid the FCC absorbing all available resources.

The committee agrees that, in order to prepare the ISOLDE input to the NCPR, working groups should be formed; these should be made up of ISCC members or nominates, or established collaborations.

3. INTC matters – S. Leoni

The INTC timeline regarding input for the CERN NCPR is presented. The open call for expressions of interest (EoI) was prepared and distributed to the community on 8^th June with a submission deadline of 7^th October 2026. The INTC meeting on 4-5^th November will be fully devoted to NCPR preparation with the open session on 4^th November concentrating on EoI oral presentations and the closed session on 5^th November making preliminary evaluation of EoIs based on initial technical reviews. A more in-depth technical assessment of EoIs will be made during the INTC meeting in February 2027.

S. Leoni informs the committee that, in order to deal with the shift backlog, the formal closure of all experiments with INTC approved shifts remaining will take place at the start of Run 4. The INTC will start accepting new proposals in February 2027; however, this meeting will only consider HIE-ISOLDE and n-TOF proposals. Collaborations are asked to estimate the number of previously accepted non-scheduled experiments for which revised proposals will be submitted; this is to ensure that the workload is well balanced over the INTC meetings before Run 4.

The strategy for accepting new proposals is then discussed. While the smaller number of n-TOF proposals are filtered by the collaboration before being sent to the INTC, the very diverse and broad physics program at ISOLDE leads to a large number of shifts being on the books. At the start of Run 3 there were 1320 approved shifts waiting to be scheduled and during the period from November 2021 to November 2025 the INTC approved another 1623 shifts. The number of shifts delivered at ISOLDE during this period has gradually been increasing with the average being between 450 and 500 each year. Despite this, there were still about 1200 shifts on the books at the end of Run3. The breakdown of the backlog shows that the situation is not uniform across collaborations. The reasons for shifts remaining are varied and include, amongst others, experiments being scheduled but beam issues occurring, a setup not being ready or installed, and experiments being finalised with fewer shifts. While the INTC’s mandate is to approve proposals based on scientific merit and to prioritise based on urgency, S. Leoni explains that, after analysis and discussions with the technical teams, a number of approaches have been proposed to help keep the situation under control:

• Limit the possibility of submitting an addendum to an open proposal to within two years after the last data-taking period.
• Clarify the purpose of letters of intent. These are intended for activity tests to prepare full proposals or to seek preliminary endorsement of a project by the INTC for funding purposes and should have a limited amount of requested shifts, if any at all.
• Update the ISOLDE yield database
• Increase contingency in scheduling by accounting for known availabilities and increasing buffers per experiment.
• Improve structured appendix for the Technical Advisory Committee.

S. Leoni presents the possible definition of four standardised recommendations for proposals submitted to the INTC. The ISCC stress that it is important that the facility works at the limit of physics and being restricted to present technical possibilities could limit this; a balance needs to be found.

4. ISOLDE Physics coordinator position – J. Pakarinen

The committee is reminded that the contract of the current ISOLDE Physics Coordinator, H. Heylen, expires at the end of August 2027 and that H. Heylen has submitted a request to extend her contract for a further year until August 2028; the associated motivation letter was sent to committee members before the meeting. H. Heylen gives a short presentation in support of her application which, if approved, would mean the hand over to the next coordinator would take place during physics running time after LS3. L. Fraile clarifies that, if the request is not approved then the procedure for selecting the next ISOLDE Physics Coordinator would have to be launched at this meeting.  

H. Heylen leaves the meeting and then, after discussion, the committee votes to extend the contract of H. Heylen as the ISOLDE Physics Coordinator for an extra year until August 2028. The committee also stresses that a longer overlap between physics coordinators is necessary in order to ensure a smooth transition; the overlap is currently only one month.

5.1 Organization and status of the ISOLDE Improvements programme – J. Vollaire

The committee is informed that a document is in preparation to formalise Phase 1 of the ISOLDE improvement program, the scope of which was approved following the MTP (Medium-Term Plan)2025/COFUND request. The objective is to formalise responsibilities for different projects, activities, studies, reporting, deliverables and timeline as well as the interfaces within CERN and with the Collaboration. The proposed structure will split activities into two sections. The first, headed by A.-P. Bernardes, will be made up of activities related to the dumps and RIB production while the second, lead by E. Siesling, will include activities related to the separators, transfer lines and post-acceleration. This structure will also facilitate the scope definition and preparation of requests for the Phase 2 of the programme.

J. Vollaire explains that, acting on the recommendations of the SIAG (Safety Incident Analysis Group) report, the roles of the technical coordinator and the deputy technical coordinator with special responsibilities for HIE ISOLDE are being formalised. The objective is to better define the geographical scope for each of the technical coordinators but in practice there should be no major changes as regards to technical coordination during LS3.

The committee hears that LS3 activities at ISOLDE have started at a very fast pace and the benefit from the availability of support teams due to the earlier start of the ISOLDE shutdown is evident. The current phase of the primary areas ventilation upgrade project, that was initiated by the recommendations of the Fire-Induced Radiological Integrated Assessment (FIRIA) made by CERN HSE, is already complete; this was mainly due to the necessary preparatory work being anticipated before the shutdown started. The status of the beam dump replacement project (IBDRS) is briefly summarised; impressive progress has been made by the IBDRS team with the GPS dump dismantling to be finalised in the coming days. However, the presence of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, that are carcinogenic, has been found in a black coating on some of the uncovered walls. HSE requires this to be removed; this activity was neither foreseen nor budgeted for but it should not impact the timeline of the project. The committee is shown photographic progress of the RILIS/ISCOOL platform replacement project; activities are on track so that RILIS reconstruction will be able to start in July 2026. Regarding the BTY upgrade, lack of ventilation and access restrictions due to shielding block handling for IBDRS has meant that the possibilities to work in the target area have been limited during the shutdown so far. However, there will be a focus on BTY line dismantling and power converter replacement during the coming weeks.

5.2 Status ISOLDE Improvement Program (and other) Hall activities – E. Siesling

The committee is told that, profiting from the availability of groups before the official start of LS3 at the end of August, all planned activities are on track albeit with some minor but not critical delays. The progress of shutdown activities is briefly presented:

• Construction of the new EPC (Electrical Power Converters) platform started in January 2026 and all new ISEG power supplies are in place. Commissioning by the OP group is expected to start in mid-July.
• Dismantling of the RILIS barrack, infrastructure and shielding blocks has been complicated but is now coming to an end; the help and flexibility of the transport team has played a major part in this achievement. The civil engineering and construction phase of the RILIS laser barrack replacement project is now starting and when this is complete the installation phase should take place between October 2026 and September 2027.
• After a survey of local users and technical staff conducted in 2025, LS3 is being used to complete the ISCOOL Improvement Programme. A new HV cage for ISCOOL services will be built on top of the new RILIS roof and other improvements include a new gas system for better cooling and molecule-breeding, a single ion detection system for bunched beam optimisation with new data acquisition from CERN and a new commercial RF driver system for improved transmission and bunching performance. This work is being funded by 297 kCHF from the ATS (Accelerator & Technology Sector) Consolidation budget and 100 kCHF from the ISOLDE Collaboration co-fund. Reinstallation of services is scheduled for 2027 with commissioning due to take place in 2028.
• Multiple new and existing devices at ISOLDE require time synchronisation so a collaboration of operators, controls infrastructure groups and beamline physicists have been working on an ISOLDE-wide timing system. The White Rabbit based system will be deployed in stages to synchronise the facility and also to provide timing over fibre for users.
• A GRAD has been hired to help with modifications at REXEBIS and REXTRAP. The leaks in the REX Low Energy section, found by VSC on the mass slits actuator, will be addressed during the shutdown.
• Procurement of the Solid State REX LINAC 101 MHz RF amplifiers has started. Installation is scheduled to start in October 2026 with commissioning planned from October 2027.
• Resources have now been defined after implementation of the digital LLRF (Low-Level Radio Frequency) system became critical due to RF group resources; a GRAD, funded by RF, will start in October 2026 and the project (HIE ISOLDE LLRF) will be led by Daniel Valuch. The aim is to have digital LLRF ready by Q4 for the start-up in 2028.
• A cryo 2kL LHe dewar, being integrated in the cryo-plant during LS3 to cope with unforeseen stops of the plant, will be commissioned with the restart of the cryo-plant in 2028. A study is on-going for a LN2/GHe system to keep the cryo-module shields cold during longer stops.
• The installation of 2 flammable gas lines and exhaust for each HEBT line (XT01, 02, 03) is complete and ready for commissioning. This project was funded by EP safety; the committee thanks L. Di Giulio EP/DI for assistance provided on this matter.

E. Siesling explains that, due to the price of the spare REXTRAP solenoid almost doubling, it has been decided not to go ahead with the request for extra funds for purchase of the spare solenoid. If the solenoid fails in the future, an urgent approval request will go out to launch the procurement of a replacement (approximate 2-year lead time) and running would continue in degraded mode from HRS with ISCOOL to inject into EBIS with attempts to repair the failing solenoid taking place in parallel. The saving of the allocated 470kCHF from the CONS budget, can unfortunately not be used for other unapproved requests such as the 9GAP RF Amplifier; a new consolidation request made for the 9 GAP 202 MHz replacement did not get approved.

The committee is informed that preparation for dismounting cryomodule 1 (CM1) started in March leading to its successful removal from the tunnel and transport to SM18 in April 2026 where the infrastructure in the clean room was ready to receive it. The core SY-RF-SRF team of 1 engineer and 3 technicians (of which one is funded by the ISOLDE Collaboration) as well as the numerous groups required for punctual operations will be taking care of the CM1 refurbishment. It has been planned that the team would receive support from 2 specific staff technicians for TE; this was clearly stated in the MTP request for the ISOLDE improvement plan in February 2025 that was endorsed in June 2025. This was motivated by the specific nature of CM1 and was considered a necessary condition to be able to start the work. However, at a meeting of the LS3 Committee on 22^nd April 2026 there was a critical discussion on the TE resource contribution to the CM1 refurbishment activity due to possible HL-LHC activities. At the meeting a clear and solid presentation was given by W. Venturini (SY/RF) to explain the consequences and to defend the absolute need for the 3 months of the technician in question. The operational requirements and constraints have been conveyed by the ISOLDE technical teams and the potential impact on the Physics programme by the ISOLDE spokesperson. A final decision will be made by the LS3C in September. The CM1 refurbishment strategy will combine the re-processing of degraded cavities and the replacement with spare cavities stored in CM18 that are presently being tested after being stored in plastic bags for 6 years. The work should take 25 weeks with CM1 back at ISOLDE in October 2027.

E. Siesling explains that the availability of a spare cryomodule will allow preventive maintenance of other cryomodules without stopping operations although online installation will not be possible unless the cryogenics are upgraded. The 1.7 MCHF material budget required to produce a spare cryomodule, CM5, has been provided by the ISOLDE Collaboration. This budget has already been used to hire an SRF technician. However, resources from Mechanical and Materials Engineering (MME) Group required for the procurement part of the project are not available until 2027 and the assembly by SY-SRF cannot take place before the end of series acceptance of LHC crab cavities. It is estimated that the procurement of part for CM5 will take about 2 years and it will take a year to build. Hence it is aimed to complete the work by 2030.

The status of major experiments activities taking place in the ISOLDE hall is briefly summarised:

• The major activity of replacing the wooden ISOLTRAP platform is underway; the final phase of the work is due to finish on 18^th August. The VITO laser beam pipe will stay in operation during work to allow VITO tests to be carried out.
• Installation work at RC6 and RL7 is on-going and cabling is almost completed. The PUMA footprint can now be seen in the hall and after finalisation of the AC distribution in August, it is possible that a transport and installation test from AD to ISOLDE could take place in September 2026.
• A possible CRIS/COLLAPS platform, that would improve laser setup and increase floor space, and hence greatly enhance experiment safety, is being studied. The ISOLDE 3D integration has been completed, and the green light has been given regarding laser safety. The next steps are to complete the civil engineering design (pillar stability has to be discussed with CERN CE) and make a detailed costing of the project for which funding still has to be found. The plan would be to start construction of the platform in January 2027.
• The timeline and status of the integration and installation of the test setup of the ISOLDE Superconducting Recoil Separator (ISRA) at the XT03 line during LS3 is still unclear.

The committee is told that core drilling across the HRS/GPS separator areas and target zone is underway to connect the Geo systems and to re-route the radioactive vacuum gases from GPS to HRS pumps. Also, the consolidation of the HRS/GPS target heating power supplies on the HT platforms, required to prevent future target trips, has been completed by EPC.

E. Siesling tells the committee that coordination of co-activities in the ISOLDE hall has been going well. The weekly ISOLDE Technical Meeting covers the ongoing activities and maps those coming up to avoid clashes and maintain best possible access to the hall and the areas around the facility. There has been very good collaboration with the Transport service with the direct contact person, Y. Seraphin, attending the Technical Meeting. Also, H. Heylen sends out a very useful weekly schedule with an overview of the various activities; this aims to optimise planning of activities to avoid clashes.

The committee is told that the ISOLDE technical Coordination already receives great support from the ISOLDE Spokesperson but support from the ISCC may be needed if the CM1 refurbishment resource allocation issues cannot be solved.

E. Siesling thanks all the very highly motivated teams, contractors and groups involved in all the work carried out already during ISOLDE LS3. The important contribution made by the ISOLDE Physics Coordinator to ensure the smooth running of LS3 activities in the ISOLDE hall is acknowledged.

6. Status of low energy beam optics and beam manipulation – M. Fraser

The section leader of SY-ABT-BTP, M. Fraser, reminds the committee that the objectives of the project, for which the collaboration provided funding for a fellow’s position, were to establish a validated and predictive optics model of ISOLDE’s low energy transfer lines for beam transport as well as to prepare low energy lines to ease operational aspects for BE-OP and handover optics responsibilities to BE. The approach taken and the achievements of the project so far are briefly summarised.

With regard to the future of the project, during LS3 support from SY-ABT will allow for the implementation of the low energy beamline devices in the LSA control system and the creation of an ISOLDE beam line optics models repository (as studied today). However, discussions are ongoing regarding future responsibility and beamline physics support for the ISOLDE lines.

7. Update from the Physics coordinator – H. Heylen

The committee is reminded that, as there are no beams for physics until 2028, alongside the many upgrades taking place at ISOLDE, measurements with external samples/sources or local ion sources are encouraged until summer 2026. Anyone planning any type of activity in the hall should notify H. Heylen well in advance. Users should be aware that hands-on safety training courses are only available once a month so visits to CERN should be planned around this.

Preliminary results from experiments that having taken place at ISOLDE so far in 2026 are presented. These include the β-shape measurements at WISArD and the characterisation of 5D states in Cs at CRIS. Experiments at IDS using different offline sources are ongoing with others are in preparation to possibly take place during this summer.

H. Heylen presents the preliminary results of the user feedback survey that was recently sent out to ISOLDE User community. Over 60 people submitted a response, with feedback given on both positive aspects of the facility and issues that may need improvement. The feedback will now be studied in detail.

In addition to the information already provided by E. Siesling, the status of projects ongoing at experiment setups in the hall is briefly presented. These include the installation the Isobar separator, MR-ToF MS at RC6 that is due to be commissioned during LS3 using a local ion source and the installation of MULTIPAC in building 508 which should be finalised in the coming months. As part of the ISRS project, a multiharmonic buncher prototype has been tested in Spain but it is not yet clear when this will be coming to ISOLDE; the transport and commissioning of the ion test-bench to building 275 planned for Q2 2027 has been delayed by 8 months because of funding issues.

The committee is informed that the IEFC (LHC Injectors & Experimental Facilities Committee) has been discussing how to ensure proton beam availability to ISOLDE once SHIP comes online; a sub-committee has been set up to look at the possibilities and the developments that would be required.

H. Heylen then briefly mentions other ongoing matters such as the installation of a large LN2 tank to reduce delivery issues, space allocation and storage, and the possibility of integrating beam requests and scheduling in a CERN tool.

8. Collaboration matters including Memorandum of Understanding and the SGUI – L. Fraile

The committee approves the updates made to Annexes 1,2 and 4 of the ISOLDE MoU that had been sent out to the ISCC before the meeting with one further update of the location of the institute of the South African representative in Annex 1 to “Johannesburg”. L. Fraile tells the committee that in the next round of revisions Annex 7 “Summary Table of the Contributions by Funding Agency and equipment item, including Common Projects” will need to be updated so that it is consistent for the FRC.

Regarding MoUs of experiment collaborations, the committee hears that the new ISOTRAP MoU is being revised while that of the Miniball collaboration is “on hold” and will require updated signatories.

L. Fraile explains that Annex 5 of the ISOLDE MoU states “Concerning the priorities for the upgrade of ISOLDE, CERN is advised by the Standing Group for the Upgrade of ISOLDE (SGUI). The members of the SGUI comprise the Chairperson of the INTC, the Chairperson of the ISCC, the immediate past Chairperson of the ISCC, the ISOLDE Technical Coordinators and the ISOLDE OP Section Leader, the ISOLDE Physics Coordinator, the ISOLDE Physics Section Leader, and representatives from the User Community for the low and high-energy sections of ISOLDE. It is chaired by the ISOLDE Physics Section Leader.” During 2026, the SGUI will be revived with a mandate, a draft of which has already been circulated to ISCC members, approved by the Research and Accelerator directors. The intention is to expand the membership to explicitly include relevant sections/groups and to define the mandate with specific tasks linked to the present status:

• Define and prioritize ISOLDE long-term upgrades and LS4 preparation
• Support implementation of approved upgrade and consolidation projects, IIP
• Assess future impact of p beam limitations and required facility upgrades
• Prioritize target and ion-source developments aligned with physics goals
• Ensure alignment with CERN strategy, NCP roadmap, and operational constraints

An overview of the financial status of the collaboration is presented as was reported to the FRC on 18^th May 2026. The ISOLDE Collaboration Third Party Account T131900 is associated with the “Memorandum of Understanding for Collaboration in the Exploitation and Upgrade of the ISOLDE Facility at the PS-Booster”, the latest version of which was signed in 2016 and is automatically renewed every three years unless an objection is made. A summary of ownership inventory appears in the MoU Annexes, including both facility, owned by CERN, and instruments, for which Users are responsible. More details are contained in individual collaboration MoUs, that are the responsibility of the experimental team concerned as are the individual Third Party Accounts linked to the MoUs. The ISOLDE MoU allows expenditure that benefits the collaboration as a whole, with focus on facility improvements, common infrastructure, equipment and computing, user support, detector and chemical labs, LN2 and gases, detector tests and offline labs and DAQ (buildings 275 and 508). The collaboration has previously agreed to contribute a total of 3740 kCHF towards the IIP (ISOLDE Improvement Programme) over the period from 2025 to 2030; in order to decouple and track IIP expenditure two dependent accounts have been created:

• T131930 for low energy: beam lines, beam manipulation
• T131940 specific to (REX and) HIE-ISOLDE accelerator

The committee is shown an overview of the income received in 2025, with the only outstanding amount being 26.2 kCHF from Spain, and the expected income during the period 2026-2028. The collaboration expenditure in 2025 is then summarised. Savings were achieved by moving the main costs of the ISOLDE technician to the EURO-LABS project in 2025, but this transferred back to the collaboration in 2026. It is shown how the balance of the collaboration account has increased from the end of 2023 to the end of 2025. However, the planned expenditure presented for 2026, that includes 860CHF for the IIP, will, as expected, total more than the income for 2026. The committee is made aware that, in the near future, there will be an increase in the cost of administration costs for User support and that the collaboration may be asked to provide support for short term User visits depending on the availability of EU project funding.

L. Fraile reminds the committee that the EURO-LABS funding project will end in August 2026. ISOLDE will have provided almost twice the committed amount of beam team. All of the Travel and Subsistence (T&S) funds allocated to ISOLDE (330 kCHF) were used by the end of the physics running period in 2025 along with an extra 20 kCHF transferred to ISOLDE that was used to improve support to users. The project Access funds were used to cover costs that would otherwise have been charged to the collaboration such as an applied fellowship position, the technician position and user support for offline experiments.

Regarding future EU funding, the committee is informed that the INFRA-SERV-03 project has been approved and ISOLDE was included the proposal HADRON-2030. This is a 4 year project but it is not yet clear how the T&S will be organised and how much, if any, support will be available for ISOLDE users. It is explained that ISOLDE has also been included in the Nuclear Physics in Consolidated PSE INFRADEV 2026 01-02 proposal (PSENTRIC) that was submitted on 12^th June 2026; Nuclear Physics and Particle Physics form one domain in the proposal (PNU) while the two domains are Astronomy, Astroparticle and Space Physics (AAS) and Analytical Physical Sciences (APS). The objectives of the proposal are to strengthen the PSE research infrastructure ecosystem through better coordination and joint policies.  The project duration, that would have 25 beneficiaries and 13 associated partners, would run for 30 months with a requested budget of 8 M€.

L. Fraile informs the committee that the current status of the ISOLDE programme, recent achievements, and future developments along with physics highlights was presented to the CERN Scientific Policy Committee on 24th March 2026.

Regarding outreach activities, the committee is told that, among other things, work is ongoing to migrate the ISOLDE website from Drupal to WordPress as required by CERN and to update the ISOLDE brochure. The ISOLDE newsletter for 2026 is now available via https://isolde.web.cern.ch/isolde-newsletter-2026 and efforts are being made to ensure that ISOLDE now regularly appears in the EP newsletter https://ep-news.web.cern.ch/ .

The committee is informed that restructuring of the EP department has led to changes at EP Safety with J. Devine now assigned to ISOLDE. Efforts are still ongoing to ensure compliance with the recommendations of the SIAG report; the ISOLDE Collaboration Safety Group, that will report to the ISCC, is running well with work so far focusing on Mossbauer issues.

L. Fraile reminds the committee that the final submission date for the ISOLDE EPJ Plus focus issue “Exploring the Frontiers of Physics with Radioactive Ion Beams” is 30th September 2026 https://link.springer.com/journal/13360/submission-guidelines . Contributions are encouraged in the form of original papers, including reviews, research, technical articles etc.; future plans and upgrades can be included.

The committee is informed that the call for nominations for the 2026 ISOLDE PhD thesis award was sent out on 13^th May with a deadline of 31^st August 2026. The prize will be granted by the ISOLDE collaboration to young scientists from the members in recognition of outstanding research achievements connected to ISOLDE and associated with their PhD study in the field of nuclear physics. Supervisors can nominate their former students from institutes in ISOLDE member states who defended their thesis between 1 August 2025 and 31 July 2026.  A nomination letter of up to 2 pages is required along with the date of the defence and the nominee’s CV and publication list as well as a PDF version of the thesis (or a public link). The thesis must also be published on the CERN servers. The prize will be awarded during the ISOLDE Users Meeting, from 25 to 27 November 2026. It will take the form of an invited talk about the awardee’s work at the Meeting and an honorary recognition. Additionally, the awardee’s workshop fee will be waived and their stay in the CERN hostel during the event will be covered.

9. News from the local group – L. Fraile

The present manpower situation in the ISOLDE Physics Group is summarised:   

•           Research Fellows = “Research Fellowship Experimental Physics (Category 1)”: Peter Plattner – COLLAPS (November 2024 – October 2026). Victoria Vedia – IDS (March 2025 – February 2027), Arthur Jaries -ISOLTRAP (March 2026 – February 2028)

•           Applied Fellows = “Research Fellowship In Applied Physics and Engineering (Category 2)”: Carlotta Porzio – MINIBALL (March 2024 – February 2027), Nikolay Azaryan – VITO/ATLAS (December 2023 – June 2026), Annie Dolan- ISS (October 2025 – January 2028), Bram van den Borne – TISD (March 2026 – February 2028)

•           Scientific Associates: Deyan Yordanov (July 2025 – June 2026)

•           Corresponding Associate:  Mikołaj Baranowski (April 26 – September 26)

•           Doctoral Students: Daniel Paulitsch (Austrian program, August 2023 – July 2026), Edward Matthews (COLLAPS via TU Darmstadt) (December 2023 – November 2026).

•           Staff Members: Luis Fraile (Physics Section Leader and Collaboration Spokesperson) (July 2025 to June 2028), Magdalena Kowalska (CERN staff member- Senior Research Physicist) (January 2020 -), Hanne Heylen (Physics Coordinator) (September 2023 to August 2028), Mark Bissell (Research Physicist LD, ERC & EP funded) (September 2022 to August 2027). 

•           User: Jenny Weterings (User Support) ISOLDE Collaboration & University of Oslo (2002- )

•           Technical Support: Oscar Fjeld, ISOLDE Collaboration (& EURO-LABS) in SY-STI-RBS (May 2025 – April 2030)

•           Technical Student: Lorenzo Forlani, (April 2026 – February 2027)

Additionally, five technical students and two trainees are working and funded at VITO. In addition, fourteen summer students are expected at ISOLDE this summer as well as six high school stagiaires. The need for good candidates is stressed, and it is emphasised that applications from all ISOLDE communities are welcome.

L. Fraile reminds the committee of some important dates regarding the Non-Collider Physics (NCP) roadmap:

• 7^th October 2026 – Deadline for submissions to the INTC
• 4^th (Open Session) and 5^th November 2026 – INTC meeting dedicated to the NCP roadmap
• 2^nd to 4^th December 2026 – Physics Beyond Colliders and Non-Collider Physics Roadmap Workshop
• 10^th and 11^th February 2027 – INTC meeting partially dedicated to the NCP roadmap

The committee is asked to inform their communities that the deadline for contributions to the EPJ Plus ISOLDE Review is 30^th September 2026 and that an ISOLDE course on quantum methods in nuclear physics is being prepared for 26^th to 30^th October 2026 at CERN.

10. Next ISCC meetings in 2026/2027, ISOLDE Workshop 2026

The dates of the final ISCC meeting in 2026 and the first meeting in 2027 are as follows:

• 10^th November 2026 (virtual meeting)
• 9^th February 2027 (virtual meeting)

In 2026 the ISOLDE Workshop and Users meeting will be held at CERN from 25^th to 27^th November.

11. Open discussion, A.O.B.

• No discussion items proposed.

Meeting ends at 12:45.

N.B. The above presentations can be found via https://indico.cern.ch/event/1692770/  .

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