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2026 promises to be an exciting year for CERN, starting with new leadership. British physicist Mark Thomson became Director-General of the Laboratory on 1 January 2026. His new management team is now in place to ensure CERN's continued excellence in fundamental science and innovative technologies, while charting a promising future for the Laboratory and for particle physics.

Experimental collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will continue to examine data generated by the accelerator to publish a multitude of new results. In 2025, the accelerator produced a record number of proton–proton and lead ion collisions, while also achieving collisions with oxygen and neon ions for the first time. Experiments at the entire accelerator complex will contribute to broadening our understanding of the infinitely small.

In 2026, the accelerators will begin their final data-taking run before the third long shutdown (LS3). Starting this summer, an intensive period of technical work will begin to transform the LHC into the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), a major accelerator upgrade to deliver about five times more particle collisions to the experiments. Sections of the accelerator will be completely replaced, not to mention a host of improvements throughout the LHC ring. The ATLAS and CMS experiments will also transform their detectors, replacing a large part of their sub-detectors to adapt to the increase in luminosity, while the two other large experiments, ALICE and LHCb, will undergo partial renovations.

This long technical shutdown is an opportunity to renovate entire sections of CERN facilities. In the workshops and laboratories, as well as technical and IT facilities, scientists, engineers and technicians will continue their efforts to improve existing technologies and develop new ones, serving fundamental science and society.

Meanwhile, planning for a possible flagship collider to succeed the HL-LHC will reach a critical milestone with the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics by the CERN Council.

In 2026, the quest for knowledge will continue beyond the horizon.
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