Particle Physics and Applications
Teaching support to the French speaking classes at the College of Natural Sciences, National University of Ha Nôi

In the coming years, Viet Nam as a fast developing country will face a series of challenges regarding the use of advanced technologies related to Nuclear and Particle Physics. Some of them are listed below, although this list is certainly not exhaustive.

• Population growth and use of fossil fuel for the production of electricity have a strong impact on the environment; recently, the government has decided that in the future part of the electricity production will be of nuclear origin. The need for qualified staff at the power plant, in the supply chain, in the handling of waste and environmental impact control will be growing.
• Biology and Medicine are already using and will increasingly require nuclear techniques to diagnose and to cure. Here also, well trained technicians are needed.
• The production of advanced materials often uses implantation and characterization techniques based on Nuclear or Particle Physics.

An increasing need for qualified personnel is foreseeable in the near future. Such personnel will need a solid grounding in General Physics and engineering and strong knowledge of Nuclear and Particle Physics. A series of lectures introducing Particle Physics is therefore mandatory.
Students having attended such classes will not only find job opportunities in the above listed domains, but will also constitute an important reservoir of future researchers and teachers for Vietnamese universities and research institutions.

French-speaking classes in "Particle Physics and Applications"
Since 2002, the Institute for Particle and Energy Physics (IPEP) of the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) has been supporting the creation of French-speaking classes at the College of Natural Sciences (National University of Ha Nôi) with specialization in Nuclear and Particle Physics. These classes have been set up with the help of the Association des Universités Francophones (AUF) thanks to the initiative of colleagues in France and Belgium. The number of students attending these French speaking classes is around 15 per year out of a total of about 150 students in Physics for the whole College. The first class obtained the Bachelor degree in July 2005, and four of these students have received grants from the French government to continue their studies in France.
At this stage the aim of the project is to provide a series of lectures and seminars introducing modern Particle Physics as well as seminars on some current hot topics in Particle Physics. In the near future we aim at setting up a research group in experimental Particle Physics at the College of Natural Sciences, which will have links with our research activities in Switzerland.

Addresses
Dr TRAN Minh Tâm LPHE / IPEP / SB / EPFL BSP (UNIL)
CH 1015 Lausanne
Tel +41 21 693 0500
Fax +41 21 693 0477
mailto:minh%20tam.tran@epfl.ch

Prof. Pham Quôc Hùng
Department of Nuclear Physics
Faculty of Physics
College of Natural Sciences National University of Ha Nôi
334 Nguyên Trai / Ha Nôi
Viêt Nam
Tel + 84 4 858 67 21
quochungpham@yahoo.com