DESY lead scientist, a CMS communications leader, and University of Hamburg professor invited into prestigious Dutch national academy based on her research and science communication work.
Read the full article and find all the latest CMS news on our website: cms.cern/news/cms-sci...
This permanent appointment at CERN is a testament to her brilliance and dedication. The IIHE community is proud of her achievements and wishes her a long and successful career at the forefront of fundamental physics. 12/12
Her sustained excellence was recently honored with the 2025 CMS Young Researcher Prize. 11/12
Higgs Sector: She has made significant contributions to the Higgs to tau-tau channel notably by measuring its differential production cross-sections (2022). Additionally, she contributed to the study of exotic Higgs boson decays (2016-2020). 10/12
and a search for new resonances decaying into Y(1S) l+l- with 2016 data (2020).
Electroweak Physics: She spearheaded a novel measurement of the tau g-2 in ultra-peripheral gammagamma collision (2024) and conducted a search for rare W boson decays into three charged pions (2019). 9/12
New Physics Searches: Most recently, she developed an innovative L1 trigger scouting dataset to search for heavy long-lived charged particles (2025). Her work also includes a search for leptoquarks produced in lepton-quark collisions with couplings to tau leptons (2024), 8/12
she ensured the high-performance selection of physics events in real-time. In the field of data analysis, in the last years, Cécile has led a diverse range of high-impact studies across several physics sectors: 7/12
Her work focuses on: (i) Data Analysis: Leading innovative searches for New Physics and precision measurements of the Higgs boson, exploiting the increased collision energy and luminosity; (ii) L1 Trigger Leadership: As a key expert in the Level-1 Trigger system, 6/12
She was then awarded a prestigious 5-year CERN staff position (LD), where she has spent the last few years establishing herself as a key leader within the CMS Collaboration. She has played a pivotal role in maximizing the experiment's scientific output. 5/12
Following her time in Brussels, Cecile obtained a postdoctoral research position with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, based at CERN. This international experience allowed her to deepen her expertise in tau physics and trigger systems within CMS. 4/12
In 2016, she defended her PhD thesis titled: "Scalar boson decays to tau leptons: in the standard model and beyond". Her early work was marked by prestigious distinctions, including the Robert Brout Prize and the CMS Thesis Award. 3/12
Cécile’s exceptional trajectory began at the École Polytechnique de Bruxelles (ULB), where she earned her engineering degree. She then joined the IIHE to conduct her doctoral research in the CMS group with Prof. B. Clerbaux. 2/12
Dr. Cecile Caillol @ CERN
🧵IIHE Alumna Cécile Caillol Appointed to Permanent Research Position at CERN !
The IIHE is thrilled to share some wonderful news: our former colleague, Dr. Cecile Caillol, has been appointed to a permanent research physicist position at CERN, starting in February 2026. 1/12 #IIHE #CMS #CERN
on the assembly and qualification of approximately 1,600 new silicon sensor modules for the CMS experiment Phase-2 Tracker upgrade. 3/3
and Rita Hauchecorne (WEWIS policy advisor) visited the CMS Tracker facility at IIHE, where around 40 collaborators from UAntwerpen, UGent, ULB, and VUB are working together 2/3
Johan Hanssens & Rita Hauchecorne visits the CMS Tracker facility at IIHE.
Johan Hanssens & Rita Hauchecorne visits the CMS Tracker facility at IIHE.
🧵WEWIS Visits the CMS Tracker Cleanroom at IIHE
On Feb. 13, Mr Johan Hanssens, Secretary-General of WEWIS (the Flemish Department of Work, Economy, Science, Innovation and Social Economy) 1/3 #IIHE #CMSExperiment #CERN
The busy programme included visits to several Large Hadron Collider experiments, including our own CMS detector, the LHC Control Room, the Anti-Matter Factory, and the LHC magnet facility, and more. Special thanks to Maarten Litmaath (CERN) for his support and excellent guidance of the tour. 2/2
A group of Bachelor’s students in Physics and Astronomy from VUB @ CERN
A group of Bachelor’s students in Physics and Astronomy from VUB @ CERN
🧵VUB Physics Students Visit CERN
Continuing the annual tradition, a group of Bachelor’s students in Physics and Astronomy from VUB participated during their lecture-free week in a two-day visit to CERN, organized by IIHE colleagues Steven Lowette and Michael Tytgat. 1/2 #IIHE #VUB #CERN #CMS
It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Antonino Zichichi.
A pioneer of CERN’s experimental programme in the 1950s and the driving force behind numerous experiments, he was one of the most influential figures in high-energy physics.
Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
🧵 (4/4) The delegation went to visit the CMS detector, few Belgian CMS researchers from @ulbruxelles.bsky.social ,UCLouvain and CERN were present as guides.
The delegation was impressed by the complexity of the @cmsexperiment.bsky.social detector and by the intense activity at @cern.bsky.social.
🧵 (3/?) Government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, and Mr.Adrien Dolimont, Minister-President in charge of Budget, Finance,Research and Animal Welfare, Government of Wallonia.
🧵 (2/?) Ms. Elisabeth Degryse, Minister-President in charge of Budget,Higher Education, Culture, International Relations and Intra-Francophone Relations
Ms. Elisabeth Degryse, Minister-President in charge of Budget,Higher Education, Culture, International Relations and Intra-Francophone Relations, Government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, and Mr.Adrien Dolimont, Minister-President in charge of Budget, Finance,Research and Animal Welfare, Government of Wallonia. The delegation went to visit the CMS detector, few Belgian CMS researchers from ULB,UCLouvain and CERN were present as guides.
🧵(1/3) On Januray 12th 2026, two ministers from the Kingdom of Belgium visited @cern.bsky.social :
Now over Belgium. Colors visible with the naked eye!
2s shutter time at max iso on my phone. The second picture is in the zenith!!!
H/t @kadacode.bsky.social
What can you do with 380 million #Higgs bosons?
What is the fate of the universe? Why is there more matter than #antimatter? What lurks beyond the #StandardModel? Valentina Cairo & Steven Lowette explore the physics reach of the High-Luminosity LHC (#HiLumiLHC) in the new issue of the #CERNCourier.
IIHE PhD student Stef Duponcheel receiving the prestigious Robert Brout prize from the Solvay Institutes award at the VUB graduation ceremony on 6 October 2025.
IIHE PhD student Stef Duponcheel received the prestigious Robert Brout prize from the Solvay Institutes award at the VUB graduation ceremony on 6 October 2025, honouring a master student in physics with an excellent academic record and an inspiring dissertation. Congratulations, Stef!
I just had a tour around the DESY labs where parts of the next trackers (ATLAS and CMS) are being constructed. Amazing setups and professionalism 🤩
Every picture has an enormous amount detail behind it. Super nice to see it in real life (thanks to Elisabetta and Doris 🙏).
📡JUNO: le géant sous terrain à l'écoute des particules 🔭
Retour en images sur la construction du plus grand détecteur mondial de neutrinos, ces particules encore mal connues en physique.
A retrouver sur #BetterCallScience, l'Instagram de la recherche à l'ULB et ici 👇
ulb.pulse.ly/4g0r4Pulse
📍It’s getting brighter at the Pole! Easier to see all the accumulated snow that will need to be removed for the IceCube Upgrade deployment.
Read more about week 35 ➡️ icecube.wisc.edu/news/life-at...
📸:Ilya Bodo, IceCube/NSF
Fresh doctors Dr Eduardo Ploerer and Dr Kunal Gautam with their two (of many) supervisors
Completing a PhD is always a journey with ups and downs. But I am extra proud of
Dr Eduardo Ploerer ⭐️
Dr Kunal Gautam⭐️
They started PhD during a pandemic, changed official supervisor twice, and moved country 3 times. And did excellent work on detectors, algorithms & physics of FCC-ee #PhDone