From the classroom to cutting-edge technology: highlights from the 2025 CERN openlab summer student programme
This summer, CERN openlab once again welcomed a new cohort of bright young minds to its research environment. The 2025 CERN openlab summer student programme brought together 37 outstanding students from 31 nationalities, selected from a pool of more than 3,800 applicants from universities around the globe.
Over the course of nine weeks, these students immersed themselves in cutting-edge projects at the intersection of science and technology. For the first time, CERN openlab partnered with CERN’s Next Generation Triggers project, which focuses on developing innovative approaches to data acquisition and processing. Eleven students in this year’s programme worked directly on Next Generation Triggers projects, helping to address the technological challenges of tomorrow’s particle-physics experiments.
Other students took part in a wide range of projects spanning computing, data science, machine learning, and high-performance systems. The programme also featured the continued involvement of ideas4HPC, a partnership designed to encourage innovative thinking and collaboration between female students, researchers, and industry experts.
Beyond their individual projects, the students participated in a series of lectures given by CERN experts and invited speakers, covering topics from theoretical physics to cutting-edge computing technologies. This unique learning environment fostered both technical growth and the development of valuable professional skills.
The 2025 programme concluded with the traditional Lightning Talks: short, dynamic presentations where each student shared their project’s objectives, methods, and results. This year’s Lightning Talks were opened by the CERN openlab CTO team, and featured a special musical performance by summer student Najla Sadek, who sang Frank Sinatra’s My Way in honour of the students’ journey throughout the past nine weeks.
Following the talks, students received their certificates during a handout ceremony led by the CERN openlab CTO team, with a celebratory cocktail reception afterwards, a fitting close to an intense and inspiring summer of collaboration, innovation, and discovery!
As these talented young students return to their universities and future careers, they carry with them not only the technical skills acquired at CERN, but also the spirit of international cooperation and shared purpose that underpins all of CERN’s work. By providing hands-on experience in frontier technologies and fostering a diverse, global community, the CERN openlab summer student programme continues to play a vital role in shaping the next generation of leaders in science, engineering, and computing.
Discover all the Lightning Talks, with corresponding presentations, on indico:
Applications for the 2026 CERN openlab summer student programme will open in November 2025.