Croatian scientists have been engaged in scientific work at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) for close to 40 years. Croatian scientists worked on the SPS heavy-ion programme and in 1994, research groups from Split officially joined the CMS collaboration. One year later a research group from Zagreb joined the ALICE collaboration, working with Croatian industry partners to contribute to the construction of the experiments’ detectors.

Scientists from Croatia have also been involved in other CERN experiments such as CAST, NA61, ISOLDE, nTOF and OPERA and now they are officially an Associated member of CERN, and will be entitled to participate in the CERN Council, Finance Committee and Scientific Policy Committee. Nationals of Croatia will be eligible for staff positions and Croatia’s industry will be able to bid for CERN contracts, opening up opportunities for industrial collaboration in advanced technologies.

CERN and Croatia signed a Cooperation Agreement in 2001, setting priorities for scientific and technical cooperation. This resulted in an increased number of scientists and students from Croatia participating in CERN’s programmes, including the CERN Summer Student Programme. 

The status will come into effect on the date the Director-General receives Croatia’s notification that it has completed its internal approval procedures in respect of the Agreement.

CERN is one of the world's leading laboratories for particle physics. The Organization is located on the French-Swiss border, with its headquarters in Geneva. Its Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

India, Lithuania, Pakistan, Turkey and Ukraine are Associate Member States. The European Union, Japan, JINR, the Russian Federation, UNESCO and the United States of America currently have Observer status.