EuPRAXIA-DN Fellows present their research at the Final Conference on the Island of Elba
The EuPRAXIA-DN Final Conference took place from 20 to 25 September 2026 at the Hotel Hermitage, La Biodola Bay, on the Isola d’Elba in Italy, as part of a joint event with the EuPRAXIA Preparatory Phase (EuPRAXIA-PP) Final Meeting. The event attracted 95 delegates and was a chance for our Fellows to share the results of their research with the network’s supervisors, partners and experts from leading laboratories and universities. During the week, the Doctoral Network sessions alternated with the final reports of the Preparatory Phase work packages.
The programme of the conference was built around four scientific sessions: Theory and Simulation, Plasma-based Accelerators and New Concepts, Diagnostics and Instrumentation, and Plasma Accelerator Applications. Invited talks from internationally leading researchers, contributed talks and a poster session completed the programme.
The event offered the perfect environment to discuss the latest research advances. It opened with a welcome by EuPRAXIA-PP Deputy Coordinator Massimo Ferrario (INFN) and a status update on the Doctoral Network by the Coordinator Prof Carsten P Welsch (INFN/Liverpool).
This was followed by the Theory and Simulation session which included invited talks by Francesco Massimo (LPGP-CNRS) and Chiara Badiali (INFN), as well as contributions from the wider community. EuPRAXIA-DN Fellow Bhushan Thakur (Instituto Superior Técnico) used three-dimensional computer simulations to show how light carrying orbital angular momentum, a “twisted” wavefront, can be produced directly in the emission process itself.
The second day was devoted to new acceleration concepts and the path towards stable operation. Several EuPRAXIA-DN Fellows presented their shared their latest research during this session. Romain Demitra (INFN) presented progress towards operating a plasma accelerator stably at high repetition rates, with a ceramic capillary that operated at 100 Hz for more than 20 million shots. Flanish D’Souza (Lund University) reported the first experimental observation of a comb-like pattern in the energies of an electron beam. Mihail Miceski (ELI ERIC) closed the session with start-to-end simulations of a laser-plasma-driven EUV free-electron laser reaching saturation within a 4 m undulator.
Invited talks by Robert Babjak (Instituto Superior Técnico) and Bifeng Lei (University of Liverpool) rounded off the session, covering topics spanning a proposed single-laser scheme to access the strong-field QED regime to a new mechanism for coherent synchrotron radiation based on surface plasmon polaritons on solid microtubes.
The diagnostics and instrumentation session on Wednesday afternoon focused on machine learning techniques and was the largest showcase of the network Fellows’ work. Phani Deep Meruga (Instrumentation Technologies) presented a radio-frequency control system prototype that is now moving towards industrialization.
Xianghe Fang (INFN) showed a feedback system that keeps the timing of an accelerator’s radio-frequency source stable to within a few femtoseconds, and David Gregocki (CNR-INO) presented a method to assess the quality of focused laser light. Fellow Ana Maria Guisao Betancur (University of Liverpool) used neural networks to reconstruct the shape of extremely short electron bunches, a technique that is now used routinely at the MAX IV laboratory in Sweden.
The scientific poster session on Wednesday evening featured R&D from EuPRAXIA-DN Fellows Andrés Leiva Genre (University of Pécs), Alex Whitehead (ELI ERIC), Flanish D’Souza (Lund University) and Farhana Thesni Mada Parambil (University of Liverpool), who presented work on topics ranging from terahertz-driven accelerators to monitoring proton beams used in FLASH radiotherapy.
Thursday morning turned to plasma accelerator applications with a series of invited presentations and contributed talks. An engaging talk by Luca Serafini on ERMES, a new technique for earthquake forecasting based on muon beams, and the challenges it poses for compact multi-hundred-GeV muon accelerators, triggered many interesting discussions. The session was completed by an invited talk by Vittoria Petrillo (INFN) on a compton gamma-ray source driven by the EuPRAXIA electron beam.
“The event was a great opportunity see the progress we all made through these three years, share and discuss our research with the wider EuPRAXIA community, and enjoy some time with the rest of the fellows at this very nice location before the doctoral network comes to an end”, commented Fellow Ana Maria Guisao Betancur.
The conference concluded with closing remarks from Carsten P Welsch and Massimo Ferrario. A special video took the audience back on a journey of the doctoral network over the years, celebrating highlights and the people whose dedication shaped the project.
Prof Welsch said: “It was wonderful to see our Fellows present their research results to the plasma accelerator community at this conference. It is very impressive just how much they have achieved over the three years of their PhDs. I certainly wish them all the very best for their future endeavours! They have been a fantastic group.”
The final conference of the EuPRAXIA-DN project marked an important milestone as the project approached its conclusion. The diverse programme gave an excellent overview of the Fellows' research outcomes and cutting-edge research within the wider community. The Fellows’ projects are all directly benefiting the design of the EuPRAXIA facilities, with many scientific and technical innovations ranging from RF synchronisation and beam diagnostics to simulation and laser-plasma physics.
All presentations are available at
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