The first cohort of EL BONGÓ physics will begin in the first quarter of 2026.
On 3 July, the University of Salamanca hosted a meeting between representatives from Colombia and Spain to advance the implementation of the European project EL-BONGÓ physics (E-Latin American digital hub for open growing communities in physics), an initiative funded by Erasmus+ whose first cohort will be activated for students from Latin America in early 2026.
The meeting was attended by the Industrial University of Santander (UIS) and the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga (UNAB), Colombian institutions that are part of the project’s international consortium. Representing Colombia were Luis A. Núñez, high-energy astrophysicist and co-director of the project, and Ysabel Briceño, social communicator and coordinator of the communication and scientific dissemination area. On behalf of the University of Salamanca, professors Justo Ospino Zúñiga and Camilo Ruiz led the agenda, in their capacity as those responsible for the pedagogical design and coordination of the project’s training content.
The teams from Colombia and Spain reviewed the progress made in the design of the pedagogical model and the planning of the four training areas: Astroparticles, High Energy Physics, Seismology, and Artificial Intelligence and High Performance Computing. In addition, they discussed the development and creation of research communities, which will benefit students from 12 universities in Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Peru, and Venezuela in data science training, scientific instrumentation, digital manufacturing, hackathons, and research internships.
During the meeting, project representatives discussed operational options for the educational offering of this new Erasmus experience in Advanced Physics, which would begin in 2026 for university students in Latin America. Among other aspects, they evaluated forms of certification and possible ways of working together with the master’s programmes involved.
The University of Salamanca, one of the oldest in the Hispanic world, has recognised its role in this international initiative, which brings together inter-institutional efforts to include new aspects in scientific training, such as access to open data, collaborative work and learning through research. Camilo Ruiz, one of the researchers who led the agenda, mentioned that this meeting ‘reinforces the role of the University of Salamanca as an academic and scientific bridge between Europe and Latin America.’
This meeting allowed for the reinforcement of the project’s conceptual and operational agreements regarding its aspirations for this year and the beginning of next year. This is the first time that the project has held a face-to-face meeting, as all progress has been made remotely. It is noteworthy that the project will hold its first face-to-face general meeting in Colombia (Bogotá and Bucaramanga) with the members of the consortium from 29 September to 3 October.
By: Karol Guarín – Social Communication Student, UNAB