The LHCb experiment at CERN has donated some of its computing equipment to the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (TSNUK) in Ukraine. The equipment – consisting of servers and disk storage and network equipment – had been part of LHCb’s online computing farm prior to upgrades.

TSNUK will use the equipment for local computing needs and to train students, as well as for local analysis of LHCb physics data. It will enable TSNUK students and researchers to submit and process analysis tasks using LHCb’s distributed computing infrastructure and to contribute to scientific research and publications.

“This equipment will help our team of students and researchers to be more effective in our work for the LHCb collaboration,” says Oleg Bezshyyko, team leader of the LHCb group at TSNUK.  “We will be able to perform calculations for the needs of the LHCb collaboration independently and prepare our students for shifts at the LHCb experiment.”

“We appreciate the long-term scientific cooperation of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with CERN’s LHCb experiment,” adds Ganna Tolstanova, Vice-Rector for Research at TSNUK. “High-speed computers combined with the talented brains of the Ukrainian youth in the professional hands of our academic staff will undoubtedly make Ukrainian science competitive, strong and sustainable.”

Since 2012, CERN has routinely donated computing equipment that no longer meets its demanding performance standards but remains suitable for less intensive use. So far, more than 2500 servers and 150 network switches have been donated to countries, territories and international organisations including Algeria, Bulgaria, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, Mexico, Morocco, Lebanon, Nepal, Palestine, Pakistan, the Philippines, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa and the SESAME laboratory in Jordan. These donations reflect CERN’s commitment to maximising its positive impact on society and can help support researchers and students in their own countries. If you are a publicly funded research organisation, you can request computing equipment from CERN.