The U.S. Particle Accelerator School, the CERN Accelerator School, the Asian Committee on Future Accelerators and the Budker Institute for Nuclear Physics in Russia are partners in organizing the Joint International Accelerator School. This international series compliments the other schools by providing in-depth courses in specialized areas. The immediate purpose of the Joint International School is to better our relations by working together on an advanced topical course every few years, alternating between the U.S., Western Europe, Japan and Russia. It is also hoped that these schools will foster a collaborative atmosphere among the accelerator communities of the four regions in scholarly work, both writing and teaching.

This international programme provides educational opportunities for young scientists and engineers in this important and growing field and encourages students to work in accelerator physics. In particular, the programme is intended for individuals with professional interests in accelerator physics and technology, for graduate students, for post-docs and for those working in accelerator-based sciences. The programme consists of intensive lectures, seminars and mini-courses on the wide range of technologies that form the base of the beam/accelerator field.

In 1985, the US Particle Accelerator School and the CERN Accelerator School jointly organized their first programme. In 1994, Japan joined the partnership. In 1998, Russia formally joined the effort.
Since new member states have joined the effort, the school has been given a new name in 2022: International Accelerator school (IAS).

The first IAS course was hosted by the Canadian Light Source (CLS), in collaboration with TRIUMF and CERN, in Saskatoon in 2023 with the theme of Superconducting Science and Technology for Particle Accelerators. More information can be found here.

Previous International/Joint Accelerator Schools