Today, CERN welcomes Estonia as an Associate Member State in the pre-stage to Membership, following official notification that the country has finalised its internal approval procedures in respect of the Agreement granting it that status, which was signed on 19 June 2020.

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Fabiola Gianotti, CERN Director-General (left) and Katrin Saarsalu-Layachi, Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to the United Nations Office in Geneva (right) on the occasion of the notification of Estonia’s Associate Membership to CERN 

Over more than two decades, Estonian scientists have contributed significantly to CERN’s scientific activities and participated actively in its educational programmes. Today, Estonian scientists form a CMS team that is involved in data analysis and the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG), with Estonia operating a Tier-2 centre in Tallinn. There is also an active group of Estonian theorists at CERN and Estonian scientists are involved in R&D for CLIC.

As an Associate Member State in the pre-stage to Membership, Estonia is entitled to participate in the meetings of the CERN Council, Finance Committee and Scientific Policy Committee. Its nationals are eligible for limited-duration staff positions and fellowships and its industry is entitled to bid for CERN contracts, increasing opportunities for industrial collaboration in advanced technologies.

Image credit: CERN

About CERN
CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s leading laboratories for particle physics. The Organization is located on the French-Swiss border, with its headquarters in Geneva. Its Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Cyprus, Estonia and Slovenia are Associate Member States in the pre-stage to Membership. Croatia, India, Lithuania, Pakistan, Turkey and Ukraine are Associate Member States. The European Union, Japan, JINR, the Russian Federation, UNESCO and the United States of America currently have Observer status.