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INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research

Nuclear shapes and resonances in research and education

Alternative title: Atomkjernens fasonger og resonanser, et samarbeid om forskning og utdanning.

Awarded: NOK 3.5 mill.

The INTPART project has continued to strengthen collaboration on research and education between the University of Oslo (UiO), University of California Berkeley and Michigan State University in the USA, TU Darmstadt in Germany, IPN Orsay and University Paris-Saclay in France, and iThemba Labs and the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. A main object of this project is to facilitate the participation of master and PhD students in excellent research projects in fundamental nuclear science. Through this project students were able to travel and participate in summer schools, experiments and go on semester exchanges. The partnering institutions of this project operate world-leading laboratories which include Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in California, USA and the Facility of Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), at MSU in the USA. In Norway, UiO operates the Oslo Cyclotron Laboratory (OCL) which has the unique detector infrastructure OSCAR. Staff and experienced researchers were able to plan and discuss new research proposals as well as able to guide students in their research. Some highlights so far of this project include student participation in fission experiments at IJC-lab, studies of nuclear resonances at iThemba Labs, FRIB, LBNL and UiO, and medical applications of nuclear physics at LBNL. The ongoing research activities have led to several publications already and have contributed to both Master and PhD theses at the participating universities. Norwegian students have strongly benefitted from interacting with experts in their fields, at participating institutions, during both long and short term visits. UiO has also hosted researchers from the participating institutions. Several UiO master students have and have had co-supervisors from a participating institution. INTPART has facilitated the extended visits for a few master students which have worked on reactor simulations, and medical applications in nuclear physics. A PhD student from iThemba labs has visited Oslo of numerous occasions for collaboration and student exchange. The INTPART project provided support for students to present their research at conferences both in Norway and abroad. Senior researchers from participating institutions held collaboration meetings on several occasions, for example during the Oslo Workshop on Nuclear Level Density and Gamma Strength Function in 2022. Another important objective of the project is to collaborate on teaching and to develop intensive courses for master and PhD students from all participating universities. This activity benefited from synergies with a similar INTPART collaboration with UiO and universities in Japan, this project finished earlier in 2023. Through the current INTPART collaboration six advanced schools have been arranged and supported. These advanced schools were taught by international experts, including professors from the partnering institutions, over a period of two weeks. The participating students from both UiO and partnering institutions received 5 ECT credits from UiO. One of the main aspects of the school were to encourage active student learning as well as a focus on hands-on activities which were linked to research activities. The intense student cooperation and stimulating atmosphere during the schools created bonds and friendships between students of diverse cultural backgrounds and fostered professional networks between the students and the lecturers. Several of these advanced schools have now become regular courses at UiO, with the teaching material benefitting new generations of students. This INTPART project has strengthened the collaboration between the partner institutions significantly. It has created unique opportunities for students to participate in excellent research activities, to learn about advanced topics from world-leading experts, and to establish their own international research network, It also resulted in exciting new research initiatives, which will further strengthen the cooperation between the partners

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This project is a continuation of the highly successful INTPART-project "Nuclear shapes and resonances in education". Both the first and this new INTPART project are based on the research project "Nuclear shapes and resonances" which addresses some of the key questions of modern nuclear physics: How does the nuclear structure change with temperature? How do nuclear shapes and the shell structure evolve across the nuclear chart toward more exotic nuclei? Providing experimental data related to these questions is essential to benchmark and improve theoretical nuclear structure models. It can furthermore have an impact on nuclear astrophysics, helping to understand how heavy elements are made in the universe and improve our understanding of reactions occurring in nuclear reactors. It includes experiments to study exotic nuclei at ISOLDE, CERN and complementary experiments at IThemba Labs, TU-Darmstadt, LBNL Berkeley, IPN Orsay, and the Oslo Cyclotron. The INPART project aims to strengthen collaboration with the University of California Berkeley, USA, TU Darmstadt, Germany, IPN Orsay and University Paris-Saclay, France, iThemba Labs and the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. Both scientifically and for education. This project also aims to increase master and PhD student participation in cutting edge research, by supporting their travel to the experiments at ISOLDE CERN, at iThemba LABS, South Africa, LBNL Berkeley, USA and at the Oslo Cyclotron, Norway. We will also organize collaboration meetings, scientific workshops, and summer schools. Make student exchange at all levels easier, by getting good agreements in place between the Universities and pre-approved bachelor course packages. We will develop and teach intensive courses for master (and PhD) students which will give credits at all 3 universities. The project is divided into 3 work packages focused on research, education and student exchange, respectively.

Funding scheme:

INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research