Highlights from IPAC23 in Venice

The 14^th International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC23) took place from 7^th to 12^th May 2023 in Venice, Italy. It was organized by the Accelerator Group in the European Physical Society (EPS-AG) and the local host organizations Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN).

The fully in-person event had record attendance with 1,660 registered participants from 37 countries, illustrating the need for real life interactions in the global accelerator landscape after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic: these included 273 students, 100 of which receiving a grant, who were given the opportunity to follow a very lively tutorial course, chaired by Ezio Todesco and Elias Metral (CERN) and held by international experts on the various topics covered by the conference. The IPAC'23 student programme was supported by the Italian Physical Society (SIF).

The IPAC is not only a scientific meeting but also works as a global marketplace of accelerators, where science, technology and industry meet and discuss business. The 311 participants from 121 industrial companies testified that this aspect, crucial for this field, is impressively vital.

After the opening of the chairperson of the EPS-AG, Ralph Assmann (DESY) and political addresses by the local municipality, the hosting Region and the Italian government, the presidents of INFN, Antonio Zoccoli, and Elettra, Alfonso Franciosi, gave inspiring opening speeches, introducing the attendees to their organisations and to the important role of particle accelerators in Italy.

The lively scientific program of IPAC23, set up in an international committee led by Peter McIntosh, included 87 talks and over 1,800 posters. The topics covered all types of accelerators (storage rings, linacs, cyclotrons, plasma accelerators and others) for all particles (electrons, positrons, protons, ions, muons, neutrons), all use cases (particle physics, photon science, neutron science, medical and industrial applications, material physics, biological and chemical usages of accelerators) and Institutes and Universities in all the three regions.

A special session, chaired by Mike Seidel (PSI), awarded the EPS-AG accelerator prizes to Xingchen Xu (Frank Sacherer Prize), Mikhail Krasilnikov (Gersh Budker Prize). In addition, the Bruno Touschek Prize was won by Matthew Signorelli from Cornell University. Two student poster prizes were awarded to Sunar Ezgi (Goethe University Frankfurt) and Christie Jonathan (University of Liverpool).

IPAC23 included for the first time in Europe an Equal Opportunity session, that featured talks from Maria Rosaria Masullo (INFN) and Louise Carvalho (CERN) on gender and STEM, and the need to have consideration for diversity in a broader sense.

For the organizers, the IPAC23 preparation was a remarkable and sometimes rocky five-year journey. But it has been a truly rewarding effort, seeing the many delegates, industry colleagues and students from all over the world coming together for a lively, peaceful, and collaborative conference in Venice, Italy. The many outstanding posters and talks promise a bright future for the field of particle accelerators.