In June 2007, the Swedish government charged Lund University with the task of forming a Secretariat. The Secretariat’s roles are to plan for achieving the construction of the European Spallation Source in Lund and to set up an international organisation for ESS. In addition, the Secretariat:

• assists in the ongoing negotiations with other European countries in order to assemble a multinational collaboration
• creates technical cooperation with laboratories and universities in Europe
• pursues the granting of the necessary legal permits for planning, licensing and environmental compliance, and
• builds up competency and recruit researchers, engineers, technicians and administrators.

Also in June 2007, Colin Carlile was appointed as the Director of the Secretariat by the Swedish government. Colin is Professor of Neutron Instrumentation within Lund University and the previous Director of the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, currently the world’s leading institute for neutron scattering.

The ESS Scandinavia Consortium’s previous Project Secretariat was led by Karl-Fredrik Berggren, Professor of Theoretical Physics at Linköping University.

The Secretariat is responsible to Lund University Council. A Stakeholder Advisory Group, a Scientific Advisory Committee and a Technical Advisory Committee are also associated with the Secretariat. The mandate of the Secretariat is up to and including 31 December 2009.

With the site decison in favour of Lund in May of 2009 the Secretariat will evolve, forming the basis of a new international institute for the ESS, currently under discussion.