6000 researchers – including 1200 PhD students at any one time – 40 countries across just about every time zone on the planet – The ATLAS Collaboration at CERN really is an astounding example of international research collaboration and critical scientific infrastructure. In this Debate@Go8 Mini, recorded on the Group of Eight European trip in November 2026, Go8 CE Vicki Thomson has a fascinating conversation with the ATLAS Collaboration Spokesperson, Professor Stephane Willocq, about the ATLAS experiment and why it is so important for our understanding of the universe we live in – and coordinating all of those moving parts!
Go8 members Adelaide University, University of Melbourne, Monash University and University of Sydney are all participating in the ATLAS Collaboration – including in the building of the next phase of the experiment that involves the redevelopment of the experiment’s innermost detector.