Belle II Academy in Blaubeuren

At this year’s Belle II Academy, held May 3 - 7, 2026, at the Blaubeuren Conference Center, 25 master’s and doctoral students from the Belle II collaboration gathered to participate in workshops and strengthen their professional networks within the collaboration. The five-day event combined scientific and technical content with a varied recreational program, offering an ideal introduction for Belle II’s next generation of scientists.

A central component of the Academy was the software workshop, led by the current Belle II software coordinator Giacomo De Pietro (KIT) and Alexander Heidelbach (LMU). Participants received an introduction to the Belle II analysis software and learned the basics of modern software development, such as automated testing, continuous integration pipelines, and code documentation.

The hardware workshop, led by Sebastian Laudage (University of Bonn), offered a contrast to this. There, participants built small detectors capable of detecting radioactive radiation and cosmic muons. For many of the participants, who primarily work in software development and data analysis, soldering and testing the detectors themselves provided a particularly interesting insight into the practical hardware work involved in particle physics.

In addition to technical and scientific topics, the Academy also focused on interdisciplinary skills. In a workshop led by Sascha Vogel from the Science 42 Lab, participants discussed how scientific content can be presented in an understandable and engaging way. Another workshop on entrepreneurship demonstrated how methods and technologies from basic research can also be applied to industrial applications and potential startup ideas.

The Belle II Academy was rounded out by a diverse recreational program. During a hike through the Swabian Alb, participants learned about the region’s geological features. Game nights, as well as bread on a stick and music around the campfire, also provided many opportunities for personal interaction and strengthened the cohesion of the future Belle II collaboration.