The community in astrophysics, cosmology, and gravitation has anticipated onsite conferences/workshops since the restrictions associated with COVID-19 pandemic ended. The International Symposium on Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics (CosPA), which is typically held annually, is steered by the Asia Pacific CosPA Organization (AP CosPA Org.), supported by the Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics (APCTP), and is the main activity endorsed by the Division of Astrophysics, Cosmology and Gravitation (DACG) of the Association of Asia Pacific Physics Societies (AAPPS). The member countries and regions of AP CosPA Org. are Australia, California and Hawaii of the United States, Canada, Chile, the Chinese Physical Society-Beijing, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, and the Physical Society-Taipei, while India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam will join soon.

CosPA 2023 was chaired by Ming-chung Chu of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and then CosPA 2024 was chaired by Rong-Gen Cai of Ningbo University, China, in 2024. CosPA 2024 regained momentum and more than 350 participants attended the conference.

CosPA 2024 was held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Ningbo, China, from June 14 to June 18, 2024, which was made possible with the generous support of Academician Rong-Gen Cai, the president of Ningbo University. The Intercontinental Hotel provided all the participants and their companies with facilities convenient for plenary talks and parallel sessions in a comfortable environment. Near the venue, Tianyi Pavilion, the oldest private library in Asia, added academic stimulus to participants. The program consisted of plenary sessions and four parallel sessions. CosPA 2024 opened with welcoming addresses by the deputy mayor of Ningbo; Bin Wang, the president of AP CosPA Org.; and Rong-Gen Cai, the president of Ningbo University. Group photos were taken in front of the hotel.

The plenary speakers were Jun’ichi Yokoyama, Di Li, Di-Lun Yang, Xiao-Gang He, Raymond Volkas, Ming-chung Chu, Kazunori Kohri, Kei-ichi Maeda, Bum-Hoon Lee, Masahide Yamaguchi, Bin Chen, Nobuyoshi Ohta, Hyeong-Chan Kim, Zigao Dai, Joel Francisco Saavedra Alvear, Filipe Abdalla, Hyung Mok Lee, Chang Feng, Ramon Alejandro Herrera Apablaza, and Jianmin Wang.

There were four parallel sessions (PS): (i) PS1 Particle Physics and Gravitation, (ii) PS2 Astrophysics and Cosmology, (iii) PS3 Dark Matter and Neutrino Physics, and (iv) PS4 Gravity and Cosmology. One hundred thirty-seven speakers presented their research results at these four sessions, which included 15 postdocs and 24 students. The selection committee (Bin Chen, Chiang-Mei Chen, Ming-Chung Chu, Chang Feng, Qing Gao, Hyeong-Chan Kim, Kei-ichi Maeda, Nobuyoshi Ohta, Stefano Scopel, Raymond Volkas, Masahide Yamaguchi, and Di-Lun Yang) selected the six best presentations among the students’ talks and presented awards to Tan Chen (Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ITP, CAS)), Wencong Hong (ITP, CAS), Siyao Li (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Jianhao Wu (Chinese University of Hong Kong), Zi-Yuan Yuwen (ITP, CAS), and Jiale Zhang (Ochanomizu University).

During CosPA 2024, the joint meeting of AP CosPA Org. and the Executive Committee of DACG (DACG-EXCO) was called and held on June 15, 2024. The council members discussed the agenda, such as CosPA 2025, DACG’s program at Asia Pacific Physics Conference (APPC) 16 and the respective elections of AP CosPA Org.’s president and the chair of DACG. Masahide Yamaguchi, the director of the Center for Theoretical Physics of the Universe-Institute for Basic Science (CTPU-IBS), will host CosPA 2025 in Korea. President Xiangsong Chen of Hainan Normal University was recommended to be the chair of the local organizing committee for DACG’s program at APPC 16, Hainan, China. The election for AP CosPA Org.’s chair was discussed, and it was suggested that as gender is an important issue to address, CosPA 2025 could be used to specifically invite active and remarkable female scientists in the community as candidates for the election. The election of DACG’s chair was discussed and the balance of the community should be considered, so the next chair will not be from Japan (Misao Sasaki, 2015–2020) and Korea (Sang Pyo Kim, 2021–present). The establishment of the Pauchy Award was discussed; the selection committee will establish rules and select the first winner in 2025.

On June 17, 2024, at the closing ceremony of CosPA 2024, it was publicly announced that CosPA 2025 will be hosted by IBS, Korea. The exact dates for CosPA 2025 will be decided after considering the academic calendars of the member countries and the timing of APPC16, which will be held in Haikou, China, from October 19 to 24, 2025. Finally, it was publicly announced that the Pauchy Award will be presented starting 2025; rules will be established, and the winner will be selected by the selection committee (Ming-chung Chu, Chang Feng, Stefano Scopel, Raymond Volkas, and Masahide Yamaguchi).

Group photo on June 15, 2024

CosPA 2024: Plenary session

CosPA 2024 Best Presentation Award Winners