Research at CERN and the contribution of ZMTNDS to the upgrade of the ALICE experiment
We are proud to announce that Rafał Michalczyk, an employee of our department, and Piotr Porycki, a student at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at WUT, are currently working at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland. Both are involved in the upgrade of the ALICE experiment, specifically in the construction of the Forward Calorimeter (FoCal) detector, which will collect data at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) starting in 2029.
What links civil engineering with high-energy physics? It turns out, quite a lot!
Dr. Eng. Rafał Michalczyk continues his research from last year there, taking responsibility for the development of the detector's structure. His work includes numerical simulations as well as testing the strength and deformability of the system, ensuring that the ultimate and serviceability limit states are met even under specific mechanical and thermal load conditions.
In turn, Eng. Piotr Porycki is completing his internship there as part of this year's edition of the SPARC 2026 (Student Practices for Advanced Research Projects) program. This initiative is dedicated to students of the Warsaw University of Technology. Piotr has a unique opportunity to support the construction of the detector, gaining valuable, practical experience in an international team.
It is worth emphasizing that the development of such a complex device is an excellent example of the outstanding results brought by interdisciplinary collaboration among specialists from various faculties of the Warsaw University of Technology. Representatives of our Faculty join forces on a daily basis with experts from other disciplines, collaborating, among others, with Maciej Czarnynoga – who also represents our university and the Faculty of Physics – acting as the deputy technical coordinator for the entire FoCal project.
This is fantastic proof that the competencies gained at the Faculty of Civil Engineering (WIL PW) open doors to projects of global and historical importance. Knowledge in the field of mechanics makes it possible to turn the bold visions of physicists into working devices, thanks to which humanity step by step uncovers the secrets of matter.
We keep our fingers crossed for the further development of the project and a fruitful stay in Geneva!
The project "Collaboration concerning the ALICE-FoCal project" is being implemented from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028. The total budget of the project on the WUT side amounts to 6,358,472 PLN. State budget funding: 3,996,714 PLN. Foreign funds: 1,917,678 PLN. Date of signing the agreement: December 2025. The project manager at WUT is Prof. Łukasz Graczykowski, PhD, DSc, Eng.
