Scientists collaborate on four-year AIDA project

February 1st 2011 marks the beginning of a four-year collaboration between scientists in 23 European countries, Advanced European Infrastructures for Detectors at Accelerators (AIDA).

With €8 million (£6.8 million) of EU funding and a total of €26 million in its budget, the scheme pulls together scientists from over 80 laboratories and institutes across the continent, reports CERN.

AIDA is an initiative to create the next generation of particle detectors, helping to unlock secrets such as the asymmetry between matter and antimatter believed to exist in our universe.

Particle accelerators created under the project may also be used to upgrade the Large Hadron Collider in the years to come.

Key areas for development under the scheme include particle beam lines, three-dimensional detectors and the provision of access to CERN facilities to scientists in other countries.

The news follows an announcement from CERN that the Large Hadron Collider is scheduled to take a "technical stop" at the end of the year, but will continue to operate into 2012 following this short break.