A look back at the European Nuclear Physics Conference 2025

From 22 to 26 September 2025, GANIL organised the sixth edition of the European Nuclear Physics Conference (EuNPC 2025) in Caen, in collaboration with the Nuclear Physics Division of the European Physical Society (NPD-EPS), LPC Caen, IJCLab Orsay and IRFU Saclay. This major gathering of the European scientific community brought together several hundred researchers to discuss recent advances in nuclear physics and its applications.

A leading European event

EuNPC 2025 follows on from previous editions, with the aim of providing a comprehensive overview of research in nuclear physics. The ten plenary sessions, forty parallel sessions and two poster sessions covered a wide range of topics, including nuclear structure and dynamics, nuclear astrophysics, hadronic physics, relativistic heavy ion collisions, fundamental interactions and symmetries, instrumentation and applications, open science and societal impact.

Highlights

This edition was marked by two award ceremonies. The 2024 Lise Meitner Prize was awarded to Muhsin N. Harakeh (University of Groningen, Netherlands) and Achim Richter (Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany), while the European NPD-EPS Prize for Best Doctoral Thesis was awarded to Chloé Fougères (CEADIF), Francesco Marino (University of Mainz) and Dr Sandro Kraemer (KU Leuven) were presented during a special ceremony. Chloé Fougères completed her thesis at GANIL, under the supervision of François De Oliveira.

The EPS and NuPECC awards for best posters were presented at the close of the conference, highlighting the excellence and creativity of young researchers.  First prize NuPECC  Mathilde Ragot (CEA), Second prize NuPECC  Filip Agert (Lund University, GANIL and UNICAEN), NuPECC Participants’ Prize  Alice Bernard (CEA), EPS Prize  Magda Satrazani (KU Leuven).

A space for exchange and openness

With the participation of nearly 400 researchers from 38 countries, EuNPC2025 promoted dialogue between experimental and theoretical approaches, as well as interactions between European laboratories, universities and research centres. Young scientists also found this event to be an ideal platform to present their work and expand their collaborations.

To raise awareness of nuclear physics among young people and develop their interest in science, GANIL invited around 100 secondary school students to attend the conference and watch ‘Entre nous, c’est physique’ (Between us, it’s physics), a scientific and humorous one-man show by Antoine Drouart, a researcher at the CEA. A discussion session with the researcher after the show gave the high school students an opportunity to talk about nuclear physics and the GANIL facilities.

By hosting EuNPC 2025, GANIL confirmed its central role in European nuclear research. This conference not only illustrated the vitality of the field, but also highlighted the importance of scientific exchanges in building open and collaborative research. The next edition of EuNPC will take place in Catania, Italy, in 2027.

Learn more about EuNPC2025:  https://indico.in2p3.fr/event/30430/

Watch the sessions https://www.ganil-spiral2.eu/eunpc2025live/

Contact :  Marek Lewitowicz marek.lewitowicz@ganil.fr