A look back at the 24th GANIL symposium

From 21 to 25 September 2026, the nuclear physics community gathered in Bussang, in the heart of the Vosges, for the 24th GANIL Symposium. Co-organised by the CEA in Saclay and GANIL, this scientific event aims to provide an overview of the research being carried out at GANIL and at major similar facilities around the world.

The 2026 event welcomed 107 participants, including 39 GANIL staff members. The scientific community in attendance came from 24 laboratories spread across 15 countries. The participants comprised 78 established researchers and 29 early-career researchers (PhD students and recent PhD graduates), meaning there was one early-career researcher for every four participants, a positive indicator for the renewal of the scientific community.

Group photo of the 24th GANIL colloquium

True to its mission, the symposium covered the full spectrum of GANIL’s scientific activities: nuclear structure evolution, nuclei at the drip line, collective modes, fission, heavy ion collisions, equation of state of nuclear matter, heavy and superheavy nuclei, nuclear astrophysics and fundamental interactions.

Dedicated sessions were held on the S³, NFS and DESIR facilities, as well as on interdisciplinary research, applications and instrumentation. In total, thirteen areas of discussion were addressed, providing an overview of the state of the art in nuclear physics and its future prospects at GANIL.

A special session, organised by the GUEC, also gave users the opportunity to express their needs and expectations with a view to improving the welcome given to experimenters and the conditions under which experiments are carried out, thereby helping to enhance GANIL’s appeal.

A session featuring 11 posters complemented the oral presentations, providing a vivid insight into the research currently being carried out in the partner laboratories.

The conference concluded with two award ceremonies. The prize for the best poster was awarded to Afonso Vicente Simoes Dos Santos (IJCLab) for his poster entitled ‘Developments towards laser spectroscopy of molecules in a supersonic gas jet at S3-LEB’, which focuses on developments in laser spectroscopy of molecules in a supersonic gas jet, with a view to the S3-LEB platform’s programmes.

From left to right, Hervé Savajols, director of GANIL, Afonso Vicente Simoes Dos Santos (IJCLab) and Jose Antonio Lay Valera of the University of Sevilla, Spain, representative of GUEC

The prize for the best thesis at GANIL 2026 was awarded to Youngju Cho and Jose Luis Fuentes.

Youngju Cho for her thesis entitled “Prompt-delayed gamma-ray spectroscopy of neutron-rich 195–202Au isotopes using multi-nucleon transfer reactions”
Juan Lois Fuentes for his thesis entitled “Complete spectroscopy of ¹⁶C and ²⁰O with solid and active targets using transfer reactions”

Jose Antonio Lay Valera from the University of Sevilla, Spain, Navin Alahari, researcher at GANIL, Hervé Savajols, director of GANIL and Youngju Cho via videoconference

Hervé Savajols, Director of GANIL, Juan Lois Fuentes and Jose Antonio Lay Valera from the University of Sevilla, Spain

A week of intense scientific discussions, networking and sharing in the lush green surroundings of the Vosges confirms the GANIL Symposium as the community’s must-attend event. See you next year at the GANIL Community Meeting!

Visit the conference Indico page: https://indico.in2p3.fr/event/37719/