The European Solar Telescope (EST) project has taken a decisive step towards construction with the establishment of the Board of Governmental Representatives (BGR), marking the first formal commitment at the governmental level to this European flagship in solar research. Until now, EST has been driven by a scientific consortium of universities and research institutions across Europe. The creation of the BGR transforms EST into a collaboration among European nations, whose national governments lend political support to the project and to the creation of a future European Solar Telescope

On 9 and 10 April, the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics (IAC) will welcome two distinguished physicists: Serge Haroche, winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics, and F. Duncan Haldane, winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics. Both scientists have been invited by the IAC to take part in the 18th Congress of Physics Students (COEFIS), organised by students from the University of La Laguna, and will each give a lecture in the IAC Lecture Hall from 10.30 am. On Thursday 9 April, the IAC will welcome Professor Haroche, and on Friday 10 April it will be Professor Haldane’s turn. In both