Governance
ESS is organised under the European Commission's ERIC legal framework. The ESS Council is the organisation's highest governing body.
Read MoreThe European Spallation Source ERIC is a joint European organisation committed to building and operating the world's leading facility for research using neutrons.
The European Spallation Source became a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) on 1 October 2015.
The ERIC legal framework was created by the European Commission in 2009 to facilitate the joint establishment and operation of pan-European research infrastructures like ESS. The European Spallation Source operated as a Swedish limited partnership, or AB, owned jointly by the Swedish and Danish governments from 2010 until 30th September 2015.
The Founding Members of the European Spallation Source ERIC are the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
ESS is currently under construction in Lund, Sweden, and the Data Management and Software Centre (DMSC) is based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The international orientation of ESS can be seen throughout the entire organisation. The Lund-based staff now includes employees from nearly 50 different nations.
To succeed in its mission, ESS relies also on the expertise of its Partners from across Europe, and also from other areas of the globe. The European Spallation Source has a large network of laboratories to exchange knowledge, personnel and experience with, and that in many cases will contribute directly to the project through In-Kind Contributions (IKCs). These IKCs are expected to finance more than 35% of the total €1.843 billion (2013) construction costs.
When the ESS User Programme begins, an estimated two to three thousand visiting scientists will come to ESS annually to perform experiments. Most users will be based at European universities and institutes, and others within Industry.