Senior physicists Fernando Ferroni of INFN Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics and Jo van den Brand of Nikhef have been appointed as the new Project Directorate for the Einstein Telescope (ET) organization.

The Einstein Telescope will be the largest ever ground-based observatory for studying gravitational waves. The submission of the ET application to the 2021 ESFRI European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructure Roadmap is a very stimulating incentive for an acceleration of actions: a new phase has been entered. Successful realization of ET, a really large and challenging research infrastructure, needs a huge and concerted effort from all angles: political institutions, research organizations and the scientific community. 

In view of these developments, the coordinators of the project (INFN and Nikhef) have extended the organization of the Einstein Telescope. A new Project Directorate is installed, with the task to pave the way to a solid and sustainable ET organization also monitoring, stimulating and developing an effective interface between project organization and the scientific community. The Project Directorate is further responsible to control time schedules, priorities, and budgetary constraints.

The new Project Directorate will be filled by prof Fernando Ferroni (INFN, Italy) and prof Jo van den Brand (Nikhef, The Netherland). They will report to the coordinators about the progress in all action lines. With that an interim project management structure is in place until a more formalized governance structure is established for the Design and Preparation phase.