Our international Collaboration continues to grow steadily. We are now more than 2,000 members from 291 institutions across 34 countries. This broad community is one of our greatest assets as we move into the next decisive phase of the project. This year, a transition in leadership is approaching. After many years of service in building and shaping both the project and the Collaboration, Michele Punturo and I will hand over responsibilities to a new team. Our mandate concluded on 22 March 2026, and the new team took over: Michele Maggiore and Angelique Lartaux. Their election statement is available on the ET Wiki (https://wiki.et-gw.eu/CB/ElectionSPDSP2026), and they also presented their vision for the future of ET at…

Dear Members of ET Germany, Over the past months, several important developments have taken place. I am pleased to share a brief overview of significant milestones. Germany Joins the Board of Governmental Representatives Germany is now officially a member of the Einstein Telescope’s Board of Governmental Representatives (BGR). The BGR brings together national representatives — typically from the relevant ministries — of the countries supporting the Einstein Telescope and serves as the central decision-making body for the project. Until recently, Belgium, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom were members, while Austria and Germany held observer status. Germany’s formal admission to the BGR marks an important step…

18.03.2026 The Einstein Telescope Collaboration has appointed a new spokesperson team, Prof Michele Maggiore and Dr Angélique Lartaux, effective 23 March 2026. They succeed the outgoing team, Michele Punturo and Harald Lück, who have laid the foundations for Europe’s next-generation gravitational-wave observatory. The transition comes at a pivotal stage as the project moves closer to realisation. The international Einstein Telescope (ET) Collaboration today announces a change in its scientific leadership, as a new spokesperson team takes office on 23 March 2026. Professor Michele Maggiore and Dr Angélique Lartaux will serve jointly as spokesperson and deputy spokesperson, succeeding Michele Punturo and Harald Lück. Together, the new team will guide the collaboration…

18.03.2026 The Scientific Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Rome hosted the conference “Gravitational Waves and Detection Technologies” on 16–17 March. The event brought together researchers from Poland, Italy, France, and Spain. The programme focused on the scientific objectives and technological advancements related to the Virgo detector and the Einstein Telescope (ET). A round-table discussion on the second day gathered representatives of the Italian, Polish, and Spanish gravitational wave communities, alongside delegates from the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Italy. Participants emphasized the critical role of international collaboration in advancing the Einstein Telescope project and highlighted the importance of engaging early-career researchers.

20.01.2026 The new research facility will enable innovative experiments in gravitational physics and serve as a platform for global scientific collaboration. Construction of the Hamburg Fundamental Interactions Laboratory (HAFUN) officially began with a ceremonial first groundbreaking. Once completed, the new facility will bring together around 200 researchers from the Cluster of Excellence Quantum Universe, the Department of Physics and the MIN Faculty at the University of Hamburg. They will use cutting-edge infrastructure to explore fundamental questions in particle physics and cosmology. „With HAFUN we are creating ideal laboratories for fundamental research. Special labs for experimental gravitational wave detection on ground and in space are one of the highlights. We will…

27.11.2025 Members of the Einstein Telescope (ET) Collaboration and the IceCube Gen2 project jointly presented an exhibition at Quantum100 in Münster, the concluding event of the Quantum Year 2025. The exhibition attracted considerable interest from visitors and offered a lively platform for engaging with cutting-edge research in astrophysics and quantum science. The booth showcased both research initiatives through illuminated displays, informative banners, and a wide range of hands-on exhibits, encouraging active exchange between scientists and the wider scientific community. Quantum100, the concluding event of the Quantum Year 2025, took place on Saturday, 15 November 2025, at the Münsterlandhalle in Münster, Germany. The project was supported by RWTH Aachen, DESY, the Deutsches Zentrum für Astrophysik, the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology/KCETA, the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational…

09.07.2025 The preparatory phase of the Einstein Telescope (ET) project has been selected as one of the most promising outcomes of Germany’s national prioritisation process for large-scale research infrastructures. Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär, together with the Science Council and representatives of the evaluation committees, has presented the shortlist of the most promising projects from the national prioritisation process for large-scale research infrastructures. The preparatory phase for ET is one of the nine selected projects with correspondingly high international relevance. Federal Research Minister Bär said: „With bold investments in research and innovation, we are laying the foundation for remaining internationally competitive in the future. Research infrastructures play a key role…

26.05.2025 This year, the international Einstein Telescope (ET) Community gathers for its Symposium in Bologna, May 26 to 30, bringing together researchers from across Europe and the world. ET represents an ambitious new chapter in gravitational wave astronomy, aspiring to become a leading global observatory that will probe the universe’s most profound mysteries with unprecedented precision. “University of Bologna, INFN, INGV and INAF are very pleased to host the ET Symposium. In Bologna, a rich scientific history meets cutting edge research, and ET is a great example of this. We are delighted that our researchers are involved in several areas of ET research, and this symposium will be an important…

The German scientific community engaged in gravitational wave astronomy welcomes the statements in the coalition agreement saying “Wir beteiligen uns am Wettbewerb um einen Gravitationswellendetektor”1and “Wir befürworten die Errichtung des Einstein-Teleskops in Deutschland als europäisches Leuchtturmprojekt“2 as an important and timely step forward. We are pleased that this commitment acknowledges the strategic importance of ET for the future of fundamental science and technology development in Germany and Europe’s global leadership in this field. Germany is exceptionally well-positioned to take on a leading role in ET: With the coalition agreement now setting a clear direction, the German ET community hopes that the federal government will actively engage in shaping the project…

Methods and technologies developed for fundamental research can yield unexpected but highly beneficial outcomes for society and the economy. The German ET Community now formed an Innovation Scout Initiative that will help to identify and transfer technologies developed for ET from the Community to industry. The kick-off with the first Innovation Scouts was held in Aachen, at the invitation of RWTH.During the very productive meeting, participants discussed successful examples of technology transfer between academia and industry, highlighting the mutual benefits of such collaborations. Other key topics included intellectual property and patent law, with a focus on how best to protect and manage innovations. The meeting marked an important step towards ensuring…