On 22 March, the CERN Council concluded a very fruitful March Session. The delegates congratulated CERN and its personnel on the successful year-end technical stop and restart of the accelerator complex and the experiments, and on the excellent progress made across the full spectrum of Laboratory activities, as was also demonstrated by the depth and breadth of the 2023 Annual Progress Report.

During presentations of the scientific programme, the Council delegates were informed that the SHiP experiment, which will search for feebly interacting particles, has been chosen to run in the North Area’s ECN3 hall using high-intensity proton beams from the SPS. This decision concluded a process that took more than a year, involving the Physics Beyond Colliders study group and the SPS and PS Experiments Committee (SPSC).

The Council warmly welcomed Brazil, the first country in Latin America to join CERN, as an Associate Member State.

Looking towards the future, the Council approved the overall timeline for the next update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics. The deadline for the submission of community input will be 31 March 2025, and an email on the subject will be sent soon by the President of Council to the community. The goal is to conclude the process in June 2026, with the Strategy updated by the Council. A more detailed timeline will be established over the coming months.

The lively and very productive March Council Session again demonstrated the strong and sustained support of our Member and Associate Member States for CERN’s mission and community. We are very grateful to them. On behalf of the Directorate, I also express our heartfelt thanks to the members of the personnel for your hard work and dedication.