The Final Meeting of the EuPRAXIA Preparatory Phase (EuPRAXIA-PP) project and the EuPRAXIA Doctoral Network’s (EuPRAXIA-DN) Final conference took place side by side from 20 to 25 September 2026 at the Hotel Hermitage, La Biodola Bay, on the Isola d’Elba in Italy.
The event attracted 95 delegates from the laboratories, universities, research infrastructures and industrial partners involved in the two projects.
The final reports of the Preparatory Phase work packages, covering the legal and financial framework, the technology and the design of the EuPRAXIA facilities, alternated with four scientific sessions of the Doctoral Network on Theory and Simulation, Plasma-based Accelerators and New Concepts, Diagnostics and Instrumentation, and Plasma Accelerator Applications. Invited talks by leading researchers, including Francesco Massimo (LPGP-CNRS), Alexander Knetsch (SLAC) and Luca Serafini (INFN), and a poster session completed the programme.
The event opened with remarks by Massimo Ferrario (INFN) and a status update on the Doctoral Network by its Coordinator, Professor Carsten P Welsch, Head of Accelerator Science at Liverpool. Later in the week, Professor Welsch also gave the final update on the outreach and dissemination activities carried out by the University of Liverpool and INFN over the course of EuPRAXIA-PP and closed the conference with a farewell to the EuPRAXIA-DN Fellows.
Several members of the University of Liverpool’s QUASAR Group, based at the Cockcroft Institute, presented their work at the event, including Bifeng Lei, Debdeep Ghosal and Ana Maria Guisao Betancur.
Other CI members supported the event through their contributions to the Local Organising Committee.
The conference marks the conclusion of the Preparatory Phase and a significant milestone for EuPRAXIA-DN as the project approaches completion, while paving the way for the next stage of the EuPRAXIA journey.
Since its start in 2015, the Cockcroft Institute has played a central role in EuPRAXIA, leading beam diagnostics research, communications and doctoral training. Its involvement will continue into the Early Implementation Phase, which aims to further develop the concept of a European research infrastructure.
All presentations are available at https://agenda.infn.it/event/51478/.