Andreas Freise appointed new director European organization Einstein Telescope
Physicist Andreas Freise of Nikhef in the Netherlands has been appointed project director for the European organization preparing Einstein Telescope (ET).
Andreas Freise recently succeeded Dutchman Jo van den Brand as European project director of the central organization preparing the scientific requirements for the Einstein Telescope. Together with his colleagues Fernando Ferroni from Italy and Mario Martinez from Spain, he now leads the activities that will lead to an operational infrastructure.
The Einstein Telescope will be a large European observatory for studying gravitational waves, using a special underground infrastructure for the most advanced instruments.
Andreas Freise is professor of Gravitational Wave Physics at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Dutch research institute Nikhef. He previously developed precision instrumentation for the first large gravitational wave detectors such as LIGO and Virgo. Freise was a founding member of the Einstein Telescope collaboration, led the observatory’s instrument design and served on the steering committee and as chairman of the Instrument Science Board in the international collaboration.
The Einstein Telescope was recently selected for the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap. The project has now entered a new phase with significant national funding in the Netherlands and Italy to develop a detailed proposal for the implementation of the research infrastructure.
The ET Project Directorate has the task of paving the way for a solid and sustainable ET organization in and – among other things – the important task of monitoring, stimulating and developing an effective interface between the project organization and the scientific community. The project directorate is further responsible for managing timelines, priorities and budgetary constraints.
