Last week, more than 200 participants took part in the spring IceCube Collaboration meeting in Uppsala, Sweden. This was the third time Uppsala University has hosted the IceCube Collaboration meeting.
The official meeting kicked off with opening remarks from Uppsala University professor Carlos Pérez de los Heros, who was also a member of the local organizing committee. This was the fourth collaboration meeting that de los Heros helped organize since joining the Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array (AMANDA) project in 1997.
“It has been an amazing journey to see the collaboration grow and the science extending beyond what we initially thought possible,” says de los Heros. “I think one of the highlights of the meeting was the venue, the main university building from 1887, which was much appreciated by the participants.”
The first day of the meeting was punctuated by a welcome reception, followed by a lecture on the history of the Uppsala University main building by University Guide Mikael Nörrby.
Later in the week, there were discussions and talks presenting activities and updates on the IceCube Upgrade, IceCube-Gen2, software, calibration, and education and outreach. The meeting also included presentations on results of the latest IceCube analyses, such as neutrino oscillations, neutrino sources, physics beyond the Standard Model, and cosmic rays.
The results of the twelfth edition of the IceCube Impact Awards were announced during the collaboration meeting dinner at Uppsala Castle. During the ceremony, IceCube spokesperson Erin O’Sullivan gave each recipient a certificate and mug to commemorate their achievements.
Outside the science talks and discussions, there were also plenty of opportunities to sightsee. A few of the participants had a chance to visit the Uppsala Cathedral where the tomb of Swedish biologist and “father of modern taxonomy” Carl Linnaeus is set into the floor of the cathedral. The week was also filled with plenty of activities and events for community building and fun, including a lunch for early career scientists, a board game night, rock climbing at the gym, a student pub crawl, and guided tours of the city.
At the conclusion of the meeting, O’Sullivan thanked the people who helped keep the IceCube Lab up and running 24/7 and the local organizing committee. This collaboration meeting also marked the first meeting for O’Sullivan as spokesperson, who succeeded Ignacio Taboada.
“It had a lot of personal significance for me to be able to welcome everyone to Uppsala during my first collaboration meeting as spokesperson,” says O’Sullivan. “Delivering my opening collaboration report in the main university building and presenting deserving members of our collaboration with this year’s IceCube Impact Awards in the Uppsala Castle were among the highlights for me.”
The next collaboration meeting will take place on October 6-10, 2025, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, USA.