The scientific programme featured 55 speakers, including, 30 presentations of user experiments across five scientific sessions, four thematic workshops, two satellite events and a poster session with 48 posters. A wide range of scientific disciplines were addressed, reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of ELI's user community, from high-field and plasma physics to ultrafast spectroscopy, materials science, AMO physics, and life sciences. Dedicated workshops focused on future developments in inertial fusion energy and strong-field quantum electrodynamics, preclinical dosimetry and ultrafast spectroscopy, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
"Over the past few years, ELI has transitioned from commissioning facilities to enabling high-impact science," says Daniele Margarone, Science Director of the ELI Beamlines Facility. "The discussions throughout this meeting highlighted the quality of the science being carried out today, and the strength of the international community."
Since the launch of ELI’s User Programme, 879 proposals have been submitted involving nearly 2000 researchers from 43 countries. Of those 467 proposals have been awarded beamtime and more than 340 experiments completed. The continued expansion of the user community illustrates both the increasing availability of experimental capabilities and the confidence researchers place in ELI as a reliable scientific partner.
Complementing the excellence-based access, the mission-based programmes in inertial fusion energy and radiobiology address strategic scientific and societal challenges. By fostering long-term collaboration between research, industry, and public stakeholders, these initiatives accelerate the translation of advanced laser science into real-world technologies.
The scientific programme concluded with the Poster Awards, recognising outstanding contributions during the poster session. Awards were evaluated by a panel of 5 international experts from ELI and other organisations.
Young Researcher Award awarded to Alfred Mishi (ELI ERIC, ELI Beamlines Facility) for the poster “Controlled Electron Injection in Laser Wakefield Acceleration using Nanoparticles”
Best ELI-Related Topic awarded to Daniel Dorobantu (ELI Nuclear Physics) for the poster “Towards high-quality laser-driven ion beams for radiobiology studies at ELI-NP”
Most Innovative Idea awawrded to Rajaram Shretha (ELI ERIC, ELI ALPS Facility) for the poster “Single-Cycle, 30 μJ mid-IR Pulses at 100 kHz at ELI ALPS”
As ELI's capabilities continue to advance, the User Meeting provides an important platform for bringing together researchers, facility staff and partners to exchange results, identify new opportunities and shape long-term scientific directions.