Organisational Structure

ATLAS is a collaboration of physicists, engineers, technicians, students and support staff from around the world. It is one of the largest collaborative efforts ever attempted in science, with approximately 6000 members and 3000 scientific authors. The success of ATLAS relies on the close collaboration of research teams located at CERN, and at member universities and laboratories worldwide.

ATLAS elects its leadership and has an organisational structure that allows teams to self-manage, and members to be directly involved in decision-making processes. Scientists usually work in small groups, choosing the research areas and data that interest them most. Any output from the collaboration is shared by all members and is subject to rigorous review and fact-checking processes before results are made public. The success of the collaboration is bound by individual commitment to physics and the prospect of exciting new results that can only be achieved with a complete and coherent collaborative effort.

The only way to realise such a challenging project, with the required intellectual and financial resources, and to maximise its scientific output is through international collaboration. Large project funds are investments from funding agencies of countries participating in ATLAS. There are also contributions from CERN, and some resources from individual universities.

Caption: ATLAS member countries are shaded blue. Click on country for summary information (double-click to zoom). Orange markers indicate ATLAS institutes (click for information, double-click for zoom). Use mouse wheel or buttons to zoom (click on ocean or non-member area to jump back to world view). See the full list of ATLAS institutions here.