2025-2026

• LS3: How to develop resilience: The Long Shutdown 3 (LS3) is CERN’s main priority for the coming years, with the completion of the HL upgrade in the LHC machine and the detectors. Its preparation is mobilising a large fraction of the organisation’s resources. It is understood that any significant slippage of the LS3/HL-LHC schedule would not only harm the project itself, but risk undermining CERN’s credibility to deliver its next big project. Without aiming at reviewing LS3, the Nine have attempted to summarise the input of the senior staff on possible sources of fragilities, associated risk of delays, and how to increase our resilience to these.
  
  
• Administrative burden: Over recent years, perception has emerged that the burden of administrative actions has grown, while general services and administrative support have reduced in the groups. The Nine have investigated this perception and classified the different sources indicated by our colleagues, in services and related IT tools, visitors and onboarding, approvals and audits, documentation and trainings, suggesting ways to reduce the burden and streamline processes.
  
  
• Improve the User’s experience of CERN: Users are “the lifeblood of our community”. Their experience of CERN must reflect this essential role. The Nine treated the themes of practicalities of onboarding and life at CERN, contracts and remuneration in front of the cost of life in our area, improved flexibility in the action of the welcoming groups, and the link between CERN and the Users’ community.
  
  
• Knowledge Transfer brainstorming: The DG has asked the Nine to consider the role and action of knowledge transfer, as a fundamental tool for CERN to increase its socio-economic impact on society. The Nine have highlighted the existing inconsistencies amongst perception and reality, mandates and their interpretation, requirements and implementation, across CERN teams and external partners.
  
  
• Non-core activities: The DG presented the organisation’s multi-year strategy, structured around key pillars. The Nine discussed with senior staff and staff members directly involved in the exercise, to develop ways to assess the effort and benefits of all activities in relation to the 5-year strategy. The Nine proposed an evaluation methodology to support informed decision-making. The methodology was benchmarked on several real activities, while the collection and evaluation of individual projects and activities were beyond the scope of this analysis.
  
  
• GRADs: Since the implementation of the new GRAD scheme in 2023, numbers have increased with respect to what was initially estimated. The DG has asked the Nine to brainstorm on this topic. In May 2026, this analysis is under way.