Applicants wishing to present a paper at the 27th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference have until 12 March to submit their contributions. The conference will be held in Ahmedabad, India from 22 to 27 October 2018.

The conference — the world’s largest in the field of nuclear fusion — will provide a forum for the discussion of key physics and technology issues as well as innovative concepts of direct relevance to the use of nuclear fusion as an eventual source of energy. It will address some of the emerging challenges faced by the fusion energy community, such as the technological feasibility of fusion power plants and economic considerations related to the introduction of fusion energy. In particular, the conference will review the latest developments in nuclear fusion research and consider these results together with the requirements for a net energy producing fusion device and – in the long run – a fusion power plant.

While nuclear fusion has the potential to provide an essentially limitless source of energy, harnessing this technology requires solving many scientific issues and technological challenges. Some of these will be discussed at this year’s conference, which serves as a platform to share the results of the latest research and development efforts and to help pinpoint advances in fusion theory, experiments, technology, engineering and safety. The organizing committee is looking to receive papers on these topics.

“In previous years the conference gathered significant contributions on progress and innovation in the field of fusion research,” said Sehila González de Vicente, the Scientific Secretary of the Conference. “We look forward to making tangible and documented outcomes once again.”

The number of papers submitted to the conference has increased significantly, from the initially 100-150 papers submitted in the 1960s, to more than 800 in 2016. The number of participants has doubled over the years from 500 to over 1000 (see chart).