New COST Action AIFORIA selected: Coordinating AI for Fundamental Physics in Europe
Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming a key technology for fundamental physics. Future experiments and observatories, from the High-Luminosity LHC and FAIR to Euclid, SKA, CTAO, LISA and the Einstein Telescope, will produce data of unprecedented scale and complexity. Making full scientific use of these facilities will require trustworthy, interpretable, efficient and physics-aware AI methods.
The newly selected COST Action AIFORIA - Artificial Intelligence for Fundamental Physics: Open Roadmapping and Inclusive Actions will build an open European network to coordinate AI activities across particle physics, astroparticle physics, nuclear physics, gravitational-wave science and cosmology. The Action aims to connect currently fragmented efforts, define shared priorities, and support common standards for AI methods, datasets, benchmarks and research infrastructures.
AIFORIA will address central challenges such as uncertainty-aware and interpretable AI, scalable and energy-efficient architectures, physics-aware models, shared benchmarks, AI-assisted design of experiments, and AI-assisted scientific reasoning. The network will also organize training schools, hackathons, workshops and Short-Term Scientific Missions, with a particular focus on young researchers and inclusive participation across Europe.
At KIT, the Action connects closely to research at the Institute of Experimental Particle Physics (ETP), where machine learning for particle reconstruction, detector optimization, simulation, statistical inference and AI-supported scientific workflows has become a central research direction. Through these activities, ETP contributes expertise in AI-driven methods for future fundamental-physics experiments to the European AIFORIA network.
The proposal received the highest possible evaluation score, with excellent marks for scientific excellence and impact, and an outstanding rating for implementation. The evaluators highlighted the timeliness of the Action, its role in reducing fragmentation across European AI-for-physics activities, and its potential to establish shared tools, benchmarks and good practices for fundamental physics.
By bringing together expertise from across European research communities, AIFORIA will help shape a coherent and sustainable AI ecosystem for fundamental physics and strengthen Europe’s role in AI-enabled scientific discovery.
Contact: Prof. Dr. Jan Kieseler