Sixteen representatives from different accelerator laboratories gathered at CERN on 27-28 February 2020 for a follow-up workshop on accelerator communication and outreach. Organised by the H2020 ARIES project consortium at CERN, in the context of the project’s training, communication and outreach activities, the workshop aimed at building up on the community’s collective experience to support a set of recommendations for future communication activities for the ARIES community.

Pedro Russo, an astrophysicist and science communicator from Leiden University, was the invited keynote speaker. In his talk, Russo presented a series of case studies, highlighting audiences, impact and constraints to the implementation of each project.

The workshop had three other defining moments for future ARIES communication activities: a brainstorming session on key topics and issues for future accelerator communication that should guide the new editorial plan for Accelerating News, facilitated by Anais Rassat, the Head of Media Relations at CERN; a brainstorming session for potential communication activities, facilitated by Daniela Antonio, the event organiser and the Communication Officer at the CERN EU Projects Office; and a group discussion on activities the community could develop together for the greater impact of accelerator communication.

The event’s agenda and minutes are publicly available on Indico.

The main takeaways from the workshop, besides a moment for reflection with like-minded colleagues, are the list of topics of interest for the community in the future and the set of actions the community will undertake together. Some of the topics our readers might see in future Accelerating News issues are accelerator upgrades, a thematic series featuring different accelerator facilities, the societal and economic impact of accelerators, the community’s contribution to the United Nation’s sustainable development goals (SDG), and the return of the interviews and opinion pieces from different experts.

On a second note, this year’s International Year of Light will mark the beginning of a social media/digital collaboration among the community, with Lightsources.org leading the way. In addition, Accelerating News will provide a platform for the community to share educational material, with the instructions to build a cardboard accelerator, coming soon to this repository.

A cardboard accelerator; the instruction to build it will be added to the future repository of educational material. (Image: STFC)

For now, the ARIES’ community building activities will come to a close with the production of a report detailing the conclusions of both workshops and providing a set of recommendations for accelerator communication and outreach based on the community’s feedback and participation. The report will be made available in the summer of 2020, through the ARIES website: http://aries.web.cern.ch/