The Council of Rectors (CRef) of the FNRS (National Fund for Scientific Research), composed of the rectors of the French-speaking Belgian universities, visited CERN on 13 December 2024.

Professors Annemie Schaus (ULB), Annick Castiaux (UNamur), Philippe Dubois (UMons), Françoise Smets (UCLouvain) and Anne-Sophie Nyssen (ULiège), accompanied by Dr. Véronique Halloin, Secretary General of the FNRS and Belgian Delegate to the CERN Council, were able to visit the Synchrocyclotron, CERN’s first accelerator; the ISOLDE collaboration; the Science Gateway; the CMS experiment cavern; and the LHC tunnel at Point 2.

They also had the opportunity to engage in discussions with representatives of the Belgian scientific and engineering community.