In this interview, Thibaut Lefevre, Head of CERN’s Beam Instrumentation Group, reflects on how the CAS Beam Instrumentation course in Split bridges fundamentals and cutting‑edge diagnostics, why hands‑on work and community building matter, and how CAS proceedings help train the next generation of accelerator experts.

The CERN Accelerator School (CAS) has completed its intensive two-week Introduction to Accelerator Physics course in Santa Susanna, Spain, bringing together 94 participants from 32 countries for an immersive journey into accelerator science.

Building a global accelerator physics community

When Vittorio Ferrentino first arrived at CERN for a six-month master’s internship, he had no idea how much the experience would shape his future. Even amidst the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, he found himself captivated by the world of accelerators. That initial spark led him to focus his master’s thesis on thermal transients in superconducting magnets for hadron therapy, and later, during his PhD in electrical engineering, to dive deeper into the complexities of accelerator physics.

The future of accelerator physics depends on continued knowledge sharing and community building.

From increasing luminosity in colliders to building more powerful spallation sources, collective effects in hadron beams are a major challenge for present accelerator-based projects

Thanks to the CERN archive, we can recover part of the history of CERN and the CERN Accelerator School. Here you can find the opening speech by P.J. Bryant and Kjell Johnsen.