Recent findings on the state-of-the art particle accelerator technology were this morning presented by the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, Cern, at the Valletta University Campus.

Opening the international conference, Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella said that projects carried out by the research organisation were an “excellent example” of international collaboration that brought people together to achieve one common goal.

Welcoming the delegates from the 40 European institution participating in the conference in next few days, Mr Vella said that the number of Maltese academics and scientists who were collaborating with Cern was continuously on the rise.

“To date we have had five University Ph.D students and three University Masters students conduct their research while residing at CERN. We have also had 28 University students attend the prestigious CERN Summer Student Programme,” he said.

The conference is being hosted by the University of Malta and will see over 85 scientists from different institutions across Europe.

Cern was founded in 1954 with the primary aim of promoting peace among scientists in Europe, following World War II. It’s current project, the Large Hadron Collider was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2013.