It is widely recognized that large-scale long-term science collaborations deliver lasting benefits to participating nations. Most of these collaborations require large infrastructures. As is done in Europe and the US, the coordination of resources for these large infrastructures among different countries in Latin America is desirable in order to optimize efforts. With the support of many countries and institutions, the initiative for a Latin American Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructure (LASF4RI) was presented at the Meeting of the Iberoamerican Ministers for Science and Technology in 2018, and was included in the final declaration that was ratified at a subsequent meeting of the Heads of State. Within the framework of the Simposio Latino Americano de Física de Altas Energias (SILAFAE) an effort was initiated to formulate a strategy for large collaborations in the region in the areas of  Particle Physics and Cosmology.

A first Strategy Plan for High Energy, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (HECAP) was concluded in 2020 after a process described here. 

We are now in the process of an update of the Strategy Plan. A call for new or updated White Papers was issued in November 2023 with a deadline for submission of July 26, 2024. The guidelines and submission form can be found here.

The submitted contributions will be presented at the “III LASF4RI for HECAP Symposium: Update of the Strategic Plan“, to be held at ICTP-SAIFR in São Paulo  in August 26-29, 2024, with the participation of the Preparatory Group, High Level Strategy Group, Funding Agencies and representatives of similar efforts around the globe. 

The particiation of the Latin American HECAP community is essential for the success of this process.