1. INFN Node – ITALY A. Masiero Univ. and INFN, Padova INFN Sections involved in the node: PADOVA ( coordinating Section – A. Masiero) TRIESTE ( SISSA + ICTP – S. Petcov, G. Senjanovic) FERRARA (D. Comelli) PISA ( D. Grasso) LNGS ( L’AQUILA – Z. Berezhiani) LECCE ( C. Coriano’) with ~ 50 participants to the network, about 20 papers written with acknowledgements of the network support (almost half of them in collaboration between different INFN Sections participating to the node), participation to 3 conferences and last year meeting in Lesvos with support of the network, organization of one general meeting of the INFN-Italy node in Ferrara for 2 days in May 2007

2. INFN – Italy : ER, ESR hiring situation ER position in Padova : Michael Gustafsson ( from the Univ. of Stockholm, Bergstrom research group) starting on Oct. 5, 2008 for 24 months * ESR positions at SISSA, Trieste : Andrzej Hryczuk ( from the Univ. of Warsaw) starting on Nov. 1, 2008 for 23 months Additional 13-month ESR position at SISSA to be advertised soon * Research plan on indirect searches for dark matter and LHC physics: Padova in collaboration with Trieste and Pisa, CERN, Bonn. Padova is part of two large INFN national projects on astroparticle physics and a national project of the Italian Ministry of Education and Research on Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Just recently the Padova astroparticle group has presented a special project of excellence on dark matter and LHC physics ( counting in particular on the presence of our ER, Michael Gustafsson) which turned out to be among the few approved and funded by our University a bank foundation.

3. SPENDING SITUATION AND FUTURE PLANS ER and ESR appointments are going to start soon – budget at disposal for ER, ESR hiring to be almost entirely used in the remaining next 2 yrs. of the network Networking funds: spent ~30% (reported figures in the report are not updated), but foreseen an increase in our networking spending in the next 2 yrs: i) planned visits to and from other nodes, in particular of young researchers ii) organization of a 3-day meeting of the INFN node ( with the participation of a few experts from other nodes) to be held next Spring at Gran Sasso National Lab. Participation as INFN node to the organization and realization of the international conference “From the Planck scale to the Electroweak Scale”, PLANCK09, to be held in Padova, May 25-29, 2009. iii) dissemination of the INFN-node scientific achievements through the participation to international conferences and workshops making use of networking funds