About us
Aim & Description
The ENRICH (European Network for radiation-detection based Research and Innovation addressing increasing societal CHallenges) COST Action aims to build a European network of researchers and stakeholders working on radiation-detection based experiments and applications.
Numerous researchers work with photon detection daily, applying it in astrophysics, nuclear and atomic physics, material science, data analysis, simulations, detectors, electronics, optics, medicine, cultural heritage, food safety, fraud detection and others. However, the community remains fragmented, with subcommunities (e.g., nuclear physics, synchrotron users) often working in silos. This lack of crossdisciplinary collaboration limits knowledge exchange and the transfer of technologies from large-scale facilities to smaller labs and industries.
“The community of photon detection is fragmented in sub-communities. ENRICH seeks to unite them, allowing collaboration across sectors and disciplines to accelerate scientific and technological advances in radiation detection”
ENRICH seeks to unite these diverse communities, allowing collaboration across sectors and disciplines to accelerate scientific and technological advances in radiation detection.
Such a collaboration will, first of all, focus on pressing scientific questions related to radiation detection in research fields like fundamental physics, nuclear and astrophysics, data analysis, and X- and Gamma ray spectroscopy or imaging.
In addition, the scientific outcomes of ENRICH’s activities will enhance Europe’s industrial competitiveness by contributing to tackling key societal and technological challenges Europe faces, such as energy autonomy, food security, faster medical diagnostics, and more. These challenges require, indeed, advances in analytical sciences, with radiation-based technologies playing a crucial role across various sectors of science and society.
ENRICH will be grounded on inclusiveness, and special attention will be paid to young researchers, those with caregiving responsibilities, and participants from ITC countries, through mentoring programs, training in proposal submissions, and special initiatives
Action Details
Action Chair Dr. Alessandro Scordo
CSO Approval date: 19/05/2025
Start date: 16/10/2025
End date: 15/10/2029
Grant Holder: Universität Zürich
Objectives
To achieve the main objective, the following specific objectives shall be accomplished:
- Build an overtime increasing broad and multidisciplinary community that includes experts, institutes, laboratories, and stakeholders across fundamental, atomic and nuclear physics, astrophysics, environmental science, biology, life sciences, detector development, solid-state physics, imaging, medical physics, raytracing simulations, agrifood, material science, nuclear forensic, radiation security, cultural heritage, optics, photon sources, and electronics.
- Survey the globally most widely used photon detection techniques, identifying their strengths, weaknesses, and potentials for improvement based on interest range, energy, resolutions, and counting capabilities.
- Create a collection of private enterprises, including manufacturers and other stakeholders, to facilitate collaboration on market applications, new tools for data acquisition and analysis, and user-friendly software development.
- Promote knowledge exchange among Monte Carlo simulation communities, integrating ray-tracing software with other physics simulations (e.g., GEANT4, FLUKA).
- Support the comparison and exchange of advanced data fitting and simulation techniques, focusing on novel Machine Learning algorithms. This includes targeted training and expert exchanges to standardize effective data analysis techniques.
- Compare and exchange the latest techniques in development of readout electronics for photon detectors identifying weak points and possible spaces for improvement.
- Identify Grand Societal Challenges that ENRICH can address through technological improvements, outlining current obstacles and linking challenges to the appropriate Working Groups.
- Create a web platform for research funding publication and application, facilitating joint projects and enhancing funding opportunities.
- Develop a web platform for optimizing beamline usage, allowing users to find compatible research teams and secure shared experimental time slots.
- Coordinate a pool of global experts to guide younger scientists and researchers and improve their knowledge, access to infrastructures, and collaboration with experienced groups and companies.
- Serve as a transnational platform to gather and disseminate state-of-the-art knowledge in radiation detection fields, including fundamental, atomic and nuclear physics, astrophysics, environmental science, biology, life sciences, detector development, solid-state physics, imaging, medical physics, raytracing simulations, agrifood, material science, nuclear forensic, radiation security, cultural heritage, optics, photon sources, and electronics.
- Engage COST Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC), new research groups, and teams from countries with less capacity, ensuring gender balance and supporting young researchers to provide equal access to scientific and technological knowledge.
- Strengthen collaborations among leading international scientists in radiation-related fields to develop a joint research agenda.
- Enhance collaboration between research teams and stakeholders to promote mass production of technological outcomes (e.g., detectors, electronic boards, photon sources), reducing costs and increasing accessibility.
- Develop a joint research agenda for the identified four main technological strands, focusing on scientifically and socio-economically relevant photon detection applications.
- Establish a permanent international pool of experts to assist researchers, particularly younger ones, in preparing and submitting research projects for various funding calls (e.g., ERC grants, Marie Curie grants), ensuring financial support for the Action’s objectives.