What will happen to high-energy physics after the LHC's operations, which are expected to end in 2041? The decision-making for the next flagship project at CERN is a community-based process, the European Strategy for Particle Physics, that started in 2006 and is updated approximately every seven years. The third and latest update of the process started in 2024 and is coordinated by the European Strategy Group with representatives of the member, associated nations, international research partners and the scientific community.
In December 2025, the group recommended the electron-positron Future Circular Collider for the next flagship collider project at CERN as the preferred option. This recommendation follows a decade of project design that led to the recent release of an in-depth-feasibility study of the FCC. The FCC is planned to have a circumference of 91 kilometers and would be located 200 meters underground. The accelerator would produce electron-positron collisions at intensities and energies that would allow for a precise study of the Higgs boson, electroweak gauge bosons and the top quark, with unprecedented precision.
Scientists are meeting at the MPP to discuss the next steps for the physics program, the experiments, and the detectors. Their discussions will feed into the preparation of the pre-Technical Design Report, an essential element to reach a decision by member states. The decision is expected to be made in 2028.
The concept of the FCC collider is integrated and proposes a broad program, which also includes hadron collisions at unprecedented energies after completion of the electron-positron program. Its scientific scope is tailored to address most of the most open questions about the fundamental physical laws of nature: What is the origin of the Higgs boson, what are its specific properties? How to explain the apparent hierarchy of mass scales in fundamental particles? Why do we live in a matter-dominated universe? What is dark matter made of? What physics awaits us beyond the Standard Model?
In addition to further developing the physics scope of the project, the workshop will also focus on implementing the FCC in the most resource-efficient and sustainable way possible, also taking into account both the local and global socio-economic impact of the project. The workshop is keen to include young generation scientists who become the leaders in the field and its flagship project.