The Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) has officially established the<\/i>\u00a0International Institute for Particle Astrophysics<\/i><\/b>, operating under the name\u00a0<\/i>Astrocent.\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Based in Warsaw,<\/i>\u00a0it is the first institute in Central and Eastern Europe to become fully dedicated to particle astrophysics and enabling technologies. Astrocent will strengthen Poland\u2019s participation in world-leading international collaborations exploring the \u201chidden Universe\u201d \u2013 from dark matter and neutrinos to gravitational waves \u2013 while advancing technologies with pathways to industry and society.<\/i><\/p>\n
The institute\u2019s development is supported by a\u00a0<\/i>combined \u20ac30 million<\/i><\/b>\u00a0package of European and national funding.<\/i><\/p>\nFrom invisible Universe to measurable signals<\/b><\/h3>\n
Modern astrophysics has shown that what we see as light is only a small fraction of what exists in the Universe. Beyond electromagnetic radiation, the Earth is continuously reached by other \u201cmessengers\u201d \u2013 like cosmic rays, neutrinos and gravitational waves \u2013 which carry information about extreme cosmic processes and the fundamental laws of nature.<\/p>\n
Detecting these signals is exceptionally demanding: they are often extraordinarily rare or faint, pushing scientists to build ultra-sensitive detectors and low-noise electronics, develop advanced photodetection, and create powerful data-analysis methods. Particle astrophysics is therefore inherently interdisciplinary, bringing together astronomy and cosmology with particle and nuclear physics, relativity, geophysics, advanced instrumentation, and large-scale computing.<\/p>\n
In recent decades, major breakthroughs \u2013 including the detection of gravitational waves and the measurement of neutrino oscillations \u2013 have turned once-theoretical speculations into precision tools for exploring the Universe.<\/p>\n
Astrocent\u2019s mission combines frontier fundamental research with the development of enabling technologies that accelerate experimental progress and create opportunities for practical implementation. Its research spans key questions about the invisible components of the cosmos, while its technology programme focuses on areas such as\u00a0ultra-low-noise detection, photonics, sensing, and data systems\u00a0<\/b>\u2013 capabilities that can translate into applications including\u00a0medical imaging, environmental monitoring, and critical infrastructure<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Prof.\u00a0Leszek Roszkowski,<\/b>\u00a0Director of Astrocent, says: \u201cIn particle astrophysics not only bold theoretical ideas but also beyond-the-state-of-the-art technological inventions are the sine qua non of achieving experimental breakthroughs and making discoveries happen. At Astrocent the emphasis on novel technologies will remain as strong as on frontline science. We hope that our inventions and potential industrial applications will be of interest to modern industry. But also that, at the same time, this technology transfer will provide the new institute with additional funds.\u201d<\/p>\nBuilding on a proven Centre of Excellence<\/b><\/h3>\n
The new institute grew out of the \u201cAstrocent: Particle Astrophysics Science and Technology Centre\u201d, founded on\u00a01 July 2018<\/b>\u00a0as a department of the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Astrocent was established under the Foundation for Polish Science\u2019s\u00a0International Research Agendas<\/b>\u00a0programme, supported by a grant of nearly\u00a0PLN 38 million<\/b>. From the beginning the goal was to create in Poland a\u00a0Centre of Excellence<\/i>\u00a0in particle astrophysics, combining fundamental research with the development of advanced detection technologies.<\/p>\n
Over just a few years, Astrocent has built 6 research groups and a dedicated administrative team, established a fully equipped electronics laboratory and clean-room infrastructure, and assembled an international staff. At its peak the centre employed around 45 and over the lifetime of the project 68 scientists from 19 countries across 6 continents. Astrocent researchers have authored more than 150 papers in JCR-indexed journals, secured over a dozen national and international research grants, filed patent applications and industrial designs, and developed technologies ranging from autonomous seismic and infrasound sensors to novel wavelength-shifting materials and liquid-argon PET concepts for medical imaging.<\/p>\n
Turning into the new PAS institute was supported by a combined \u20ac30 million funding package: \u20ac15 million from the\u00a0Horizon Europe Teaming for Excellence<\/b>\u00a0project Astrocent Plus received in late 2024 (Grant Agreement 101137080), plus national funding (\u20ac7 million from the\u00a0Ministry of Science and Higher Education<\/b>\u00a0and \u20ac8 million from the\u00a0Foundation for Polish Science<\/b>\u2019s new\u00a0IRA programme<\/b>), awarded in late 2025 and early 2026.<\/p>\nStrengthening Poland\u2019s role in astroparticle physics<\/b><\/h3>\n
Today, Astrocent plays an active role in major international collaborations in key areas of astroparticle physics: dark matter, gravitational waves and neutrinos. Its teams contribute to experiments such as DarkSide-20k and DEAP-3600, the Advanced Virgo and the Einstein Telescope, as well as the Hyper-Kamiokande and KM3NeT neutrino projects. It has established a strategic partnership with the Laboratoire AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC) in Paris, as well as collaborations with research groups from many other leading institutions, including INFN and the Gran Sasso Science Institute in Italy, DESY in Germany, McDonald Institute in Canada, CERN in Switzerland and many others.<\/p>\n
As an international institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Astrocent will be present both on the national roadmap for research infrastructures and in the European research landscape as a reliable partner with clearly defined responsibilities. Its role is to strengthen Poland\u2019s contribution to major international experiments in astroparticle physics, to develop technologies with impact beyond basic science, and to train the next generation of researchers and engineers.<\/p>\n
_____________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n
The institute was established\u00a0by the decision of the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences\u00a0<\/strong>(Resolution No.\u00a06\/2026 dated 17.02.2026<\/strong>). Prof. Marek Konarzewski serves as President of PAN (term 2023\u20132026).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) has officially established the\u00a0International Institute for Particle Astrophysics, operating under the name\u00a0Astrocent.\u00a0Based in Warsaw,\u00a0it is the first institute in Central and Eastern Europe to become fully dedicated to particle astrophysics and enabling technologies. Astrocent will strengthen Poland\u2019s participation in world-leading international collaborations exploring the \u201chidden Universe\u201d \u2013 from dark…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":8826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-astrocent"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.astrocent.edu.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.astrocent.edu.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.astrocent.edu.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.astrocent.edu.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.astrocent.edu.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.astrocent.edu.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8827,"href":"https:\/\/archive.astrocent.edu.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8825\/revisions\/8827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.astrocent.edu.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.astrocent.edu.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.astrocent.edu.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.astrocent.edu.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}