Workshop on Future Particle Colliders
"An international workshop held from 7-10 April at IST in Lisbon gathered physicists from Europe and China focusing on the future of particle physics and next-generation collider projects, with wide participation of LIP members. "
The 2026 European CEPC Workshop was held at IST in Lisbon and brought together over 100 international scientists to advance plans for a next-generation particle collider. Discussions centered on physics goals, accelerator and detector technologies, and computing tools, focusing on strengthening global collaboration.
The status of the CEPC project proposed in China was presented, along with that of the FCC-ee project proposed in Europe. Both proposals are circular machines, to deliver electron-positron collisions and function as a "Higgs factory”. The status of alternative proposals was also reported. The programme of the workshop combined plenary talks and parallel sessions covering a wide range of topics: fundamental particle physics; accelerator design and performance; advanced detector technologies; sustainability, computing and data analysis tools. These discussions highlighted both the scientific opportunities and the technological challenges towards building a future collider.
The outcome of the European Strategy for Particle Physics 2026 Update was presented at the workshop. The Deliberation Document by the European Strategy Group was released that week, recommending the FCC-ee as the preferred option for the next collider in Europe. At the same time, at the workshop, the plan for submitting the CEPC proposal to the Chinese government in 2030 was conveyed, unless the FCC-ee is approved for construction in Europe before then, in which case the CEPC community would further integrate the FCC-ee project.
The workshop fostered a highly collaborative atmosphere, highlighting the synergy and cooperation essential for shaping the next-generation of particle colliders. The gathering took place at IST, and the organization involved members of CFTP, LaPMET, LIP and IHEP.