Jean-Paul Burnet (Beams Department) and Benjamin Couturier (Experimental Physics Department) are the two new elected members of the Senior Staff Consultative Committee, also known as The Nine. The electronic voting process closed at midnight on Sunday, 23 August 2026. Their terms of office will run from September 2026 to August 2029, replacing the outgoing members Sophie Baron (Experimental Physics Department) and Giovanna Vandoni (Accelerators and Technology Sector, Directorate Office).

The Senior Staff Consultative Committee was created in 1981 to serve as a channel of communication between the senior staff (grade 8 and above) and the Director-General. It is made up of nine members elected by their peers for a period of three years, who offer advice to the Director-General on questions concerning scientific activities, organisational matters and use of resources.

Last year, The Nine produced reports on topics such as preparing for LS3; the scope, impact and opportunities of activities in industrial partnerships; the new graduate hiring schemes; the balancing of non-core activities; nurturing CERN’s connection to the user community; and proposals for reducing administrative load, as well as a review of past reports to inform the new Organisational Support and Improvement (OSI) Department.

This year, Thorsten Wengler (Experimental Physics Department) has been appointed as the new spokesperson for one year, starting in September 2026. The Nine now consists of the two newly elected members together with:

• Klaus Hanke, Engineering Department [2027]
• Ludovico Pontecorvo, Experimental Physics Department [2027]
• Thorsten Wengler, Experimental Physics Department [2027]
• Maria Elena Angoletta, Accelerator Systems Department [2028]
• Clara Gaspar, Experimental Physics Department [2028]
• Emma Sanders, Education, Communications and Outreach Group [2028]
• Christoph Schwick, Experimental Physics Department [2028]

(End of term of office shown in brackets.)

The Nine wish to congratulate the newly elected members and warmly thank all the other candidates. Special thanks also go to the polling officers, Christoph Rembser and Christophe Delamare.

How can you contribute?

The Nine seeks input for topics to be investigated throughout the year, so we encourage you to get in touch, either by sending an email to the-nine@cern.ch or by contacting one of our members.

In 2026–2027, we meet every Tuesday from 12.15 to 1.45 p.m. You are welcome to attend the first 15–20 minutes of our meeting to present your topic in person – please contact us to know the venue.

Details of previous topics are available on: https://thenine.web.cern.ch/