Photo: Julien Marius Ordan / CERN

This year CERN has contributed to a wide range of European-funded projects, tackling topics that range from stroke care to wave energy to open science.

In total, 13 new projects began either in 2024 or at the tail end of 2023.

Three of these projects are funded under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), the European Union’s funding programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral research, and have been awarded to scientists working in CERN's Theoretical Physics department. 

Of the 13 projects, five are funded under the Research Infrastructures calls of the Horizon Europe programme. The topics range from harnessing big data, to using AI to improve data collection from research infrastructures, to making accelerator facilities more energy efficient.

One newly launched project that CERN is participating in is UMBRELLA, which aims at transforming stroke care across Europe. The project takes a holistic approach to the entire stroke care pathway and uses AI and cutting-edge digital technologies to improve stroke prevention and diagnosis, reduce time to treatment, and prevent long-term damage.

Another project, MARES, aims to vastly improve wave energy converters (WEC) – devices that capture energy from ocean waves. The project looks to make the power take-off systems – the part of the WEC that converts wave motion into electricity – more efficient by designing a new reciprocating superconducting generator, the core component of the power take-off system. Wave power has great potential as a renewable energy source, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stating it could produce 29,500 terawatt hours of energy globally per year – almost 10 times Europe’s annual electricity consumption of 3,000 TWh.

The table below shows the 13 projects involving CERN that began either in 2024 or at the end of 2023.