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HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SEVEN SESSION OF THE COUNCIL

14-15 December 2017

 

RESTRICTED SESSION ON 14 DECEMBER 2017

 

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

The President gave an oral report on the following matters:

  • Meeting of the Tripartite Employment Conditions Forum on 12 October

  • Finland at CERN exhibition

  • ICFA and FALC meetings in Ottawa in November

  • ICFA statement on the International Linear Collider

  • Other meetings attended
     

DIRECTOR GENERAL’S REPORT

The Director-General gave an oral report on the following matters:

  • CERN “Guest of honour” stand at Geneva’s Automnales exhibition

  • South-East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies (SEEIIST)

  • Protocol visits in 2017

  • New head of the Occupational Health & Safety and Environmental protection (HSE) unit
     

OVERVIEW OF PROTOCOLS CONCLUDED SINCE NOVEMBER 2016

The Council took note of the overview of protocols signed since November 2016, set out in document CERN/3332.

 

COOPERATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH (CERN) AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN

The Council unanimously decided to approve the conclusion of an International Cooperation Agreement with the Republic of Kazakhstan, set out in the annex to document CERN/3341/RA.

 

THE COST VARIATION INDEX FOR 2018

The Council took note of document CERN/FC/6170-CERN/3333 and unanimously decided to approve: 

  • a basic salary and stipend index of 0.39%, and a subsistence allowances and family benefits index of 0% (bringing the overall cost-variation index for the personnel budget to 0.35%, including the applicable indexation for home leave of 1.03%);

  • a materials budget cost-variation index of 0.19%;

  • an overall cost-variation index of 0.27%.

It further took note that the Member States’ contributions for 2018 would be indexed by the overall cost-variation index of 0.27%, in line with the “corridor principle” set out in document CERN/FC/5644-CERN/3023.

 

FINAL BUDGET OF THE ORGANIZATION FOR THE SIXTY-FOURTH FINANCIAL YEAR 2018

The Council took note of the final Budget for 2018 in 2018 prices, set out in document CERN/FC/6171-CERN/3334.

 

PENSION FUND

The Council heard a report by the Chair of the Pension Fund Governing Board (PFGB), Dr T. Roth, on the latest meetings of the Board and the PFIC, and took note of the Fund’s year-to-date investment return of 4.89% as at 31.10.17.

 

EARNED-VALUE MANAGEMENT (EVM) REPORTS ON THE LHC INJECTOR UPGRADE (LIU) AND HIGH-LUMINOSITY LHC PROJECTS

The Council took note of the information set out in document CERN/FC/6175/RA-CERN/3336/RA and of the oral status report by Dr Bordry on the LHC machine and injectors, in particular the peak luminosity of 2.2x1034 cm-2 s-1 that had been achieved and the 50 fb-1 integrated luminosity delivered in 2017.

The Council congratulated the Management and all the teams involved on the record-breaking operation of the whole accelerator complex in 2017, and in particular on having so skilfully mitigated the various difficulties encountered.

 

SCIENCE GATEWAY PROJECT

The Council took note of a presentation by the Director-General outlining the Management’s ongoing efforts aimed at securing donations for the development of a “Science Gateway”, a new visitor and education centre around the Globe of Science and Innovation that would serve to expand the reach and depth of CERN’s outreach activities, and expressed enthusiastic support for the Science Gateway concept.

 

REPORT ON THE HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME (HSSIP)

The Council took note of an oral report by C. Warakaulle on the High-School Students Internship programme.

 

 

CLOSED SESSION ON 14 DECEMBER 2017

 

ENLARGEMENT PROCESS

At the request of the Russian Federation, the Council has closed the latter's application for Associate Membership. At the same time, the Russian Federation has reiterated its strong support for CERN, in particular for the LHC machine, the LHC experiments and their upgrades.

The Council unanimously decided to update the composition of the fact-finding task force for Croatia, originally established in June 2014.

The Council also heard a report by the Director-General on the status of discussions with Brazil, Canada, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Republic of Korea and Serbia.

 

UPDATE OF EUROPEAN STRATEGY FOR PARTICLE PHYSICS

The Council unanimously decided to approve a correction to document CERN/3325/RA/Corr., relating to the Appointment of the Strategy Secretary and establishment of the Strategy Secretariat, which had been approved at the September Session.

The Council further took note that a written call for proposals for the venues of the Open Symposium in May 2019 and the Strategy Drafting Session of the European Strategy Group in January 2020 would be issued in the coming days, and that proposals should be received by the Council Secretariat by 15 May 2018 at the latest.

 

ELECTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS

The Council:

  • appointed Professor R. Cousins and Professor M-H. Schune as new members of the Scientific Policy Committee for three years as of 1 January 2018,

  • reappointed Professor G. Martinelli and Professor H. Schellman as members of the Scientific Policy Committee for three years as of 1 January 2018.

  • reappointed Professor K. Ellis as Chair of the Scientific Policy Committee for a second period of one year as of 1 January 2018,

  • re-elected Professor S. de Jong President of the Council for a third period of one year as of 1 January 2018,

  • re-elected Professor E. Rabinovici Vice-President of the Council for a third period of one year as of 1 January 2018,

  • re-elected Mr O. Malmberg Finance Committee Chair for a second period of one year as of 1 January 2018,

  • re-elected Professor U. Dosselli Vice-Chair of the Finance Committee for a second period of one year as of 1 January 2018,

  • appointed Professor K. Jon-And as a member of the Audit Committee for a period of three years as of 1 April 2018,

  • reappointed Mr J. Breckenridge and Mr A. Cunningham as professional members of the PFGB for second three-year terms of office as of 1 January 2018.

 

 

OPEN SESSION ON 15 DECEMBER 2017

 

OVERVIEW REPORT FOR 2017 BY THE CHAIR OF THE SCIENTIFIC POLICY COMMITTEE

The Council took note of the overview by the Chair of the Scientific Policy Committee, Professor Ellis, of the matters discussed by the Scientific Policy Committee in 2017.

 

CERN IMPACT ON YOUNG PEOPLE'S CAREERS OUTSIDE HEP

The Council heard a presentation by Dr Niedziela, a member of the Students Career Study Group, on the results of the second online questionnaire on the careers of students having done their PhD at CERN.

 

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