The second edition of the Jules Horowitz Reactor Advanced School took place in Marseille from 13 to 17 October 2025. It was co-organised by Aix-Marseille Université, CEA and the Università di Bologna as a joint initiative of CONNECT-NM and the JHR consortium.
The school included 23 lectures and 2 study cases on key topics for material-testing reactors, in particular the behaviour under irradiation of structural materials and fuels, irradiation devices, instrumentation, modelling and data management, as well as a presentation of European reactors and tours of the LIMMEX joint laboratory on instrumentation at Aix-Marseille Université and of the Jules Horowitz Reactor in Cadarache. It involved 30 lecturers from nuclear research organisations and universities in Europe and the USA, all members of CONNECT-NM and the JHR consortium.
The school brought together 20 young participants from France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Sweden, the UK, Switzerland and China. More than half of the participants were early-career professionals, the rest being PhD and MSc students. Public research organisations, universities and nuclear industry representatives were almost equally represented. In addition, the opening session of the school involved 120 students of the instrumentation master at Aix-Marseille Université, giving them insight into career paths open to them after completing their studies.
It was a lively and engaging school, marked by strong interaction between participants and between participants and lecturers. The case study on irradiation-device design proved especially fruitful, producing very interesting findings.
Overall, the programme successfully strengthened technical knowledge and fostered new professional connections across the CONNECT-NM and JHR communities.