Einstein Telescope Research Infrastructure: Challenges and Long-Term Sustainability

Description & Goal of the Workshop

Sustainability has become a top priority across industries, fueling global initiatives to conserve resources, reduce carbon emissions, and mitigate environmental impacts while promoting efficiency and collaboration throughout product life cycles. The development of large-scale underground infrastructures, such as the Einstein Telescope, requires an integrated and forward-thinking approach to ensure sustainability is embedded across every phase of its lifecycle.
This research-industry workshop seeks to bring together leading experts and industry actors to discuss sustainability challenges linked to large-scale underground scientific infrastructures. Using the Einstein Telescope project as a model case, the event will foster innovative discussions and collaborative solutions to address these critical issues.

The program will facilitate the examination and the discussion of sustainability approaches applicable throughout the complete project lifecycle:

• Design Phase: Integration of sustainability principles in initial conceptualization and planning

• Construction Phase: Implementing eco-friendly building techniques and material selection and reuse strategies.

• Operational Phase: Minimizing resource consumption and environmental impact

• Decommissioning Phase: Evaluation of responsible site restoration approaches.

The workshop will include a dedicated session, for potential industrial collaborators, to explore partnership opportunities in this cutting-edge scientific endeavor, to examine relevant aspects of a sustainable procurement strategy and to have the opportunities of scheduling 1:1 meetings with project experts in "Affreschi" Room adjacent to the main workshop room.

This Workshop is organized in the context of the activities carried out by Workpackages 7 and 9, of the Einstein Telescope Preparatory Phase (ET_PP) EU funded program.

Overview of the Workshop Sessions

MONDAY 16/02/26

• 8.00 - 9.00: Registration for the Workshop
• 9.00 - 10:45: Session I - Introduction
• 10:45 - 11:15: Coffee Break
• 11:15 - 12.55: Session II - Life cycle sustainability assessment
• 13.00 - 14.00: Lunch break
• 14.00 - 15.50: Session III - Sustainable transportation and smart energy
• 15:50 - 16.20: Coffee break
• 16:20 - 18.05: Session IV - Efficient operation
• 19:30 - 23.00: Social Dinner

TUESDAY 17/02/26

• 9.00 - 11:00: Session V - Solutions for underground construction
• 11:00 - 11.30: Coffee Break
• 11.30 - 13.30: Session VI - Societal Impact Strategy and Participatory Design
• 13.30 - 14.30: Lunch Break
• 14.30 - 16:10: Session VII - Industry engagement and sustainable procurement

The preliminary timetable can also be viewed on this page with more detailed information.