Blog

  • Blood Donation Campaign 18 November 2025

    A blood donation campaign will take place at CERN on 18 November, building 29. More information can be found following this link.


  • GAC-EPA End-of-year drink – Thursday 4 December from 4 to 6 pm

    Dear Members,

    I am pleased to invite you to the traditional GAC-EPA end-of-year drink that will take place

    Thursday, December 4, 2025 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
    on the mezzanine adjacent to CERN’s main auditorium (building 500/1-001).

    In the hope that you will be many to attend, please accept our sincerest regards,

    Catherine Laverrière, President


  • Taxation Regime in France and Switzerland – Friday 14 November 12:30 to 14:30

    The Staff Association is pleased to invite you to the conference:
    Taxation Regimes For International Officials in France and Switzerland

    This presentation, led by Maître Brocard, will cover topics such as the implications of the end of the legitimation card, issues related to multiple pensions, and the tax treatment of inheritances.

    Friday, 14 November – 12:30 to 14:30503/1-001 – Council Chamber & Zoom

    For more information and to register: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1601851/

    Conference in French, with simultaneous English translation.


  • HENDRIK VERWEIJ

    Hendrik Verweij, born in Linschoten near Gouda in the Netherlands, passed away aged 93, in Meyrin on August 11th 2025. Henk earned his degree in electrical engineering at the Technical High School in Hilversum and started his career as an instrumentation specialist at Philips, working on oscilloscopes. He joined CERN in July 1956, bringing his expertise in electronics to the newly founded laboratory. As an early example, with the NP electronics group leader Ian Pizer he published CERN Yellow Report 61-15 on a ns sampling oscilloscope.

    During the next four decades developments in electronics profoundly transformed the world. Henk played a crucial role in bringing this transformation to CERN’s electronics instrumentation. Over the years he worked with numerous colleagues on fast signal processing circuits. Eventually, he succeeded Pizer as the group leader. With Bjorn Hallgren and others he realized the electronics of the inner UA1 drift detector.

    In the sixties, fully aware of the importance of standardization to promote the involvement of industry, he developed and maintained contacts with US colleagues from the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, SLAC, the National Bureau of Standards and others. He participated in discussions on what became the Nuclear Instrumentation Module or NIM standard, defined in 1964 by the US Atomic Commission, with multiple updates until 1990. Henk served on the NIM committee chaired by Lou Costrell of the National Bureau of Standards. He was also a member of the ESONE committee for CAMAC and later FASTBUS standardization, participating together with a group of colleagues, including Bob Dobinson, Fred Iselin, Phil Ponting, Peggie Rimmer, Tim Berners-Lee from CERN and others from Europe in this global effort. He contributed hardware for the standard modules, before and after the FASTBUS document was published in 1984. Henk reported regularly at conferences on the status of developments in Europe. A strong supporter of collaboration with industry, he also helped convince Lecroy to construct a plant near CERN. Towards the end of his career, he became enkgroup leader of the microelectronics group at CERN, closing the loop in this transformational electronics evolution, just when integrated circuit developments for silicon microstrip, hybrid pixel and other detectors, with the transition from dedicated radiation hardened integrated circuit technologies towards standard CMOS technologies, paved the way for the LHC detectors.

    After his retirement, he remained very interested in CERN and its electronics activity. He attended recent Medipix Collaboration meetings regularly, following the various activities with his characteristic interest and enthusiasm. Many of us enjoyed the regular chats with him when he was passing by, and he continued to attend our gatherings around the end of the year, including the one in December last year.

    The Experimental Physics electronics group (ESE)


  • The Five-Yearly Review at CERN – 3 November – 12:30 to 1:30 pm – 503/1-001

    The Staff Association is pleased to invite you to the seminar on:

    the Five-Yearly Review at CERN

    What are its objectives, how is it conducted at CERN, and what can reasonably be expected from this exercise?

    Monday 3 November – 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM

    503/1-001 – Council Chamber

    Conference in French, simultaneous English translation

    Open to all

    For more information and registration: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1594781

    Zoom : https://cern.zoom.us/j/66762960129?pwd=JWDho1XXS3GoBG6FndeJC8ZNMMbmJG.1

  • Postpone the payment of pensions from the 7th to the 25th of the month?  Do you agree?

    Dear GAC-EPA members,

    As you will have read in the letter that you received from the Fund at the beginning of June, the Pension Fund wishes to change the date on which pensions are paid from the 7th to the 25th of the month from the beginning of 2026.

    To better understand the rationale for this change, we asked the Pension Fund for an explanation.

    The main reason for the proposed change is that sometimes bereaved families have to arrange a reimbursement of a pension that has been unduly paid; this often happens when a death occurs at the end of the month – for example: a beneficiary dies on 25 July, the July pension has been paid, however, the August pension is also very likely to be paid if the Fund has not been informed prior to instructing the payment; in this case, the Fund will have to ask the relatives to arrange a reimbursement of the August pension, which is a delicate process for the Pension Fund’s Benefits Service and difficult for the bereaved family. By paying the pension at the end of the month, this problem should arise much less frequently; the rule is that for any death during the month (from the 1st to the last day of the month), the pension is due in full for that month.

    Avoiding certain bereaved families having to pay back a large sum of money in the middle of the night is a laudable intention; however, the GAC-EPA Committee is concerned about the consequences of this change for the most vulnerable beneficiaries.

    The position of the GAC-EPA Committee, which we have presented to the Pension Fund Governing Board and its Benefits Service Team, is clear: we ask the Fund to abandon this change!

    Do you agree with us?

    Give us your opinion by adding a comment on our article; Go to the bottom of the page, fill in the ‘Leave a Reply’ box.


  • 14 October: Annual Information Meeting of the Pension Fund

    We strongly encourage all pensioners who are able to do so to attend the Pension Fund’s annual information meeting on 14 October 2025.

    Further information is available at: https://home.cern/news/official-news/cern/14-october-annual-information-meeting-pension-fund

    Access: the CERN Community Support Centre (CCSC) is at your disposal in Building 33 to help you, in particular with the renewal of access cards and companions:
    👉 Renewal of the access card – CERN Community Support Centre

    For those accompanying persons with reduced mobility, the Security Service has agreed to simplify the procedure and issue them with a visitor’s card, acting as a guarantor.


  • Working in science in the age of AI, by Dr Marcel Salathe – 7 October at 5:30 pm

    The Staff Association is pleased to invite you to the conference:            

    Working in science in the age of AI, by Dr Marcel Salathe

    Artificial intelligence is transforming not only our research tools, but also the very nature of scientific work. This presentation explores these profound changes and the new dynamics between researchers and emerging technologies.

    Reminder

    Tuesday, October 7 at 5:30 p.m.

    Council chamber, Meyrin

    Conference in English

    Free, open to all

    For more information and registration: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1579986/


  • Classical music concert, with the Chamber ensemble of the ODN – 6 November from 7:30 to 8:30 pm – 500/1-001

    The Staff Association is pleased to invite you !

    Classical music concert, with the Chamber ensemble of the ODN

    Let yourself be carried away by the elegance of Romanticism and the vibrant colors of 20th-century French music

    Thursday 6 November – 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM

    500/1-001 – Main Auditorium

    Open to all, free

    Mandatory individual registration: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1572314/