Tag: international collaboration

How the “unicorn of the seas” got its helix

How the “unicorn of the seas” got its helix

A narwhal tale with a twist

Up to two metres long and twisted into a perfect spiral: The narwhal’s tusk is one of the most unusual structures in the animal kingdom. An international research team, including scientists from the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, has now for the first time deciphered how this helix is organised inside the tooth – with a surprising twist. At the nanometre scale, the building blocks of the spiral rotate not just one way, but in two opposite directions.

King Frederik III knew the true origin of unicorn horns, and in the 17th century he sent an expedition to Greenland to probe the reality behind the precious horn. That’s because the mythical creature lives there, in Arctic waters, and has fins rather than hooves. The expedition was successful and bestowed on the Danish ruler a throne made entirely of “unicorn horns” – and with that, prestige and power in Europe. Even though the legendary horn is not a horn at all, but “merely” a tooth.

A tooth, however, that is quite unique in the animal kingdom. While other long teeth – such as the tusks of elephants and walruses, or the incisors of beavers – simply follow a curved shape, the male narwhal’s tooth grows forwards in a screw-shaped form. Usually it is the left upper canine that twists in an elegant counterclockwise spiral, piercing the upper lip and reaching lengths of up to two metres – sometimes up to half the animal’s body length.

It was precisely this unusual growth that aroused the curiosity of an international and interdisciplinary research team. Using state-of-the-art X-ray methods, the researchers wanted to find out whether the direction of rotation of the visible spiral was already determined by the arrangement of its nanometre-sized building blocks.

Read more on the PSI website

Image: Narwhals – often called the “unicorns of the sea” – have fascinated people for centuries with their long tusks. Now an international research team has used X-ray light to reveal the internal structure of this unique tooth for the first time, from nanometre to centimetre scale.

Credit: © Carsten Eqevanq, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, North West Greenland (2021)

Harry Westfahl Jr. appointed as next Director of the ALBA Synchrotron

Harry Westfahl Jr. appointed as next Director of the ALBA Synchrotron

He will succeed Caterina Biscari, who has led the facility since 2012, and will oversee the transition to ALBA II, the next-generation synchrotron.

The Rector Council of the ALBA Synchrotron has appointed Harry Westfahl Jr. as the next Director. He will take office in November this year, taking over on Caterina Biscari, who has led ALBA since 2012, consolidating a period of major scientific and institutional growth for the facility.

He joins ALBA at a pivotal moment. Following the approval of the ALBA II upgrade project, he will lead the transformation into a fourth-generation research infrastructure, expanding its scientific capabilities and strengthening its strategic role for the country.

Harry Westfahl Jr. is a physicist with broad experience in synchrotron science, instrumentation, and leading large-scale research infrastructures. He has developed most of his scientific career at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), where he has held senior leadership positions, including Scientific Director and Director since 2020. He played a central role in the development of Sirius, the Brazilian fourth-generation synchrotron light source. He led the scientific strategy and beamline program and brought it through its final construction phase and operation.

Caterina Biscari heartily welcomes the appointment, saying “ALBA enters its most ambitious phase since its construction. Harry’s experience and proven scientific, technological and managerial excellence make him the ideal person to guide ALBA II and continue strengthening our national and international impact”.

Harry Westfahl Jr. says: “I am honoured by the trust placed in me by the Rector Council, and delighted to join ALBA as its next Director. ALBA is entering a decisive and very promising phase, and I take up this responsibility with respect and admiration for what Caterina Biscari and the ALBA team have built. The ALBA team can count on my full commitment, and I look forward to working closely with the Rector Council, the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades and the Departament de Recerca i Universitats, and with the scientific, technological, and industrial communities in Spain and beyond. Together, we will work to strengthen ALBA’s scientific impact today and bring ALBA II into operation as a transformative research infrastructure for Spain and Europe.”

Read more on the ALBA website

From Light Sources to Innovation Ecosystems: The First IUPAP Hackathonino at IPAC2026

From Light Sources to Innovation Ecosystems: The First IUPAP Hackathonino at IPAC2026

Connecting Students, Research Infrastructures, and Industry Through Accelerator Science

Large-scale research infrastructures such as synchrotron light sources and neutron facilities are increasingly recognised not only for their scientific output, but also for their role in training talent, strengthening international collaboration, and building scientific capacity across regions.

This broader mission was clearly visible at the International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC2026), held in Deauville, France, from 17–20 May 2026, where the Working Group on Particle Accelerators (WG14) of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) launched the first Hackathonino — an interactive initiative designed to connect students, research infrastructures, and industry around real accelerator challenges.

Image above: The 1st Prize team: (E) Develop an educational idea to introduce students
to accelerator simulations, by Sverker Werin & Francesca Curbis, MAXIV
Maria Ünal, SOLARIS National Synchrotron Radiation Centre, PL
Helena Alamprese, Michigan State University, US
Hiiro Moriyama, University of Oxford, UK
Laury Batista, Paris Saclay University, CEA, FR
Weibo Hu, University of Science and Technology, CN
Wiktoria Wiatrowska, SOLARIS, PL


Supported by IUPAP WG14, the Accelerator Science and Technology Industry Permanent Forum (AIPF), Big Science Sweden, and industrial partners including ScandiNova, the Hackathonino demonstrated how relatively small, targeted initiatives can create lasting impact for the global accelerator and light-source community.

For organizations such as ESS, MAX IV, ESS , MAX IV , SNS, CERN, FZJ, University of Johannesburg and MIT, the event highlighted an increasingly important dimension of research infrastructures: their ability to serve as engines for capacity building, knowledge transfer, and international scientific development.

IUPAP and the Global Accelerator Community

As one of the official sponsors of IPAC, IUPAP has long played a central role in promoting international cooperation in physics. Through WG14, dedicated to particle accelerators, the organisation actively supports education, mobility, and collaboration across the global accelerator landscape.

The Hackathonino represented a practical example of this mission in action. Rather than focusing solely on conference presentations, the initiative created a space where students and early-career researchers could work directly on operational and scientific challenges inspired by major research infrastructures.

More than 65 students expressed interest in participating and were organised into multidisciplinary teams supported by mentors from laboratories, universities, and industry.

The Hackathonino focused on key accelerator-related themes connected to the broader missions of light sources and neutron facilities, including applications in Environment & Materials, Life Sciences, Energy, digitalisation, and accelerator operations. Nine challenges were prepared based on real research-infrastructure conditions and operational needs.

The challenges covered a broad and interdisciplinary spectrum, ranging from control-room first-fault identification and AI-assisted accelerator diagnostics to educational tools, new developments for accelerator infrastructures, medical accelerators, neutron scattering applications, large language models (LLMs), and quantum interfaces. Together, they reflected the diversity of expertise now required across modern accelerator-based facilities.

Students described the Hackathonino as a rare opportunity to collaborate across disciplines and sectors while gaining direct exposure to the research-infrastructure environment. “It was an amazing experience to work together with students, scientists, and industry around real accelerator challenges,” one participant commented. “We learned not only technical skills, but also much more about how research infrastructures operate and the career opportunities they offer.”

The initiative demonstrated how IUPAP can help create low-barrier, internationally accessible opportunities for young scientists to engage directly with accelerator-based science and technology.

ESS and Capacity Building Through Research Infrastructures

The Hackathonino also strongly reflected the broader mission of the European Spallation Source (ESS) and other major facilities: building sustainable scientific ecosystems that extend beyond a single laboratory.

As Europe’s next-generation neutron source, ESS is not only developing advanced accelerator and neutron technologies, but also investing heavily in competence development, training, digitalisation, and international collaboration. Events such as the Hackathonino align naturally with this vision by exposing students to real operational challenges while connecting them with experts across facilities and disciplines.

Several Hackathonino challenges were directly relevant to the evolving needs of neutron and synchrotron facilities, including reliability, diagnostics, AI-assisted operations, educational outreach, and knowledge transfer between laboratories. These are strategic areas where ESS, together with partner facilities such as MAX IV, contributes to a growing Nordic and European ecosystem for accelerator-based science.

The participation of students and mentors from different continents also reflected the international model on which ESS itself is built. Remote mentoring from institutions such as the University of Johannesburg and MIT demonstrated how expertise can be shared globally, independent of geography.

For emerging facilities and developing scientific communities, this type of distributed collaboration is increasingly important. It allows knowledge developed at large infrastructures to support broader international capacity building and helps create pathways into accelerator science for students who may not yet have direct access to major facilities.

2nd Prize Team: (B) RF window failure detection, by John Moss, Charles Peters, Sung-Woo Lee, SNS
Axel Perez Ruiz, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS/IN2P3, IJCLab, Orsay, FR
Dinghui Su, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Shanghai, CN
Johan Lundquist, MAX IV/Lund University, Lund, SE
Joel Valerian, University of Melbourne, AU

Light Sources and Knowledge Transfer Across Regions

One of the strongest themes to emerge from the Hackathonino was the importance of transferring expertise across the global light-source community.

Several teams explored how operational experience and accelerator knowledge from established facilities could support newer or developing infrastructures. This theme culminated in the winning project, which focused on leveraging expertise from MAX IV to support education and accelerator design activities connected to the SESAME synchrotron in Jordan.

The project illustrated how facilities within the Lightsources.org community can contribute not only to scientific discovery, but also to regional scientific development and long-term human capacity building.

This model is closely aligned with the missions of both ESS and IUPAP: strengthening international scientific cooperation while creating opportunities for future generations of researchers and engineers.

For the light-source community, the Hackathonino also demonstrated the value of creating informal, highly collaborative environments where students can engage directly with real-world infrastructure challenges. Even within a short timeframe, participants produced solutions and concepts that impressed mentors, industry representatives, and the independent jury.

3rd Prize Team: (F) Decision-Making for a Compact Neutron Source (CANS) Upgrade Strategy, by Mina Akhyani (FZJ)
Jordan Byrne,
Aras Amini,
Oliver Betteridge,
Filip Peczek,

Building Future Scientific Ecosystems

The Hackathonino reinforced a broader lesson about modern accelerator-based facilities.

Research infrastructures such as ESS, MAX IV, ESRF, SOLARIS, and SESAME are far more than experimental platforms. They are ecosystems where science, technology, education, and industry intersect. By connecting students, researchers, engineers, and companies, they help create resilient international networks capable of addressing future scientific and societal challenges.

The initiative also showed that impactful capacity-building activities do not necessarily require large or complex structures. A lightweight and flexible format, supported by committed mentors and international organisations such as IUPAP, can already generate meaningful collaboration and long-term engagement.

As discussions begin around future editions of the Hackathonino, the event offers a promising model for how the accelerator and light-source community can continue strengthening international cooperation, supporting emerging talent, and expanding access to accelerator science worldwide.

In this sense, the Hackathonino was more than a student competition. It was a demonstration of how facilities like ESS and the broader Lightsources.org community can help shape the next generation of global scientific collaboration.

Find out more about IUPAP Working Group 14 here

Follow IUPAP on LinkedIn: IUPAP Accelerator Science Communication: Posts | LinkedIn

President of the Federal Republic of Germany visits SESAME laboratory

President of the Federal Republic of Germany visits SESAME laboratory

During a state visit to Jordan today, His Excellency Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, took time out to visit the SESAME laboratory north-west of the capital Amman. In November last year, Germany announced its intention to become an Associate Member of SESAME, cementing the country’s already long-standing support for the Laboratory. At the end of his visit, the President signed the Laboratory’s guest book, in the company of SESAME Director Dr Khaled Toukan and young researchers from across the region: “I am fascinated by the succeeding cooperation of so many countries in the Middle East and worldwide. This important work of researchers shows what a treasure international cooperation to the benefit of all of us is. Germany continues to support this place of science in the years to come.”

Germany’s relationship with SESAME goes back to the origins of the laboratory. It was the donation of the BESSY I synchrotron that allowed the fledgling SESAME to establish itself as an intergovernmental organisation in 2004. BESSY I components today form the injector for the SESAME main ring accelerator. Germany has been an Observer to the SESAME Council since its establishment in 2004.

Read more on the SESAME website

Image: H.E. Frank-Walter Steinmeier and H.E. Khaled Toukan with the scientists at the ID11L-HESEB and ID11R-TXPES beamlines.

Credit: © SESAME 2026

Diamond hosts SESAME delegation

Diamond hosts SESAME delegation

Diamond Light Source hosted a delegation from SESAME in Jordan, marking a renewed commitment to the existing scientific collaboration between the two facilities. 

Also in attendance was Professor Dame Angela McLean, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, a representative of His Excellency Manar M Dabbas, Jordan’s ambassador the UK and Professor Samar Hasnain, the UK’s representative on the SESAME Council since 2004. 

The visit marked a new phase in the long-standing relationship between the two synchrotron facilities, which share a mission of advancing scientific excellence and fostering cross-border collaboration.  

SESAME, located in Allan, Jordan, is an intergovernmental research centre established under UNESCO and inspired by the cooperative model of CERN. It brings together scientists from across the Middle East and neighbouring regions, serving as a scientific hub of shared research. 

The UK has been involved with SESAME since its inception, serving as a founding observer nation and offering guidance and expertise throughout the facility’s development over the past two decades. 

Read more on the Diamond website

Image: L-R: Dr Kawal Sawhney (head of the Optics and Metrology group), Professor Samar Hasnain (UK representative on the SESAME Council), Dr Richard Walker (Diamond Technical Director), Professor Sofia Diaz-Moreno (Spectroscopy group leader), Dame Angela McLean (UK government chief scientific adviser), Dr Khaled Toukan (Director of SESAME), Professor Gianluigi Botton (CEO of Diamond Light Source), representative of the Jordan ambassador to the UK, Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn-Smith (former president of SESAME Council), Professor Michael Fitzpatrick (Diamond board member), Professor Sir Mark Walport (foreign secretary and vice president of the Royal Society) Dr Maher Attal (SESAME Technical Director), Dr Adrian Mancuso (Diamond Physical Science Director), Dr Martin Walsh (interim Diamond Life Science Director), Professor Andy Dent, Dr Andrea Lausi (SESAME Science Director)

Credit: Diamond Light Source

Zinc detected in clogged syringes

Zinc detected in clogged syringes

Employees of the technology transfer centre ANAXAM and researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI used the unique analytical methods available at PSI to look inside pre-filled syringes. They found that, in rare cases, zinc from the needle shield can leach into the drug solution to be injected and possibly contribute to syringe clogging.

The task which the employees of the technology transfer centre ANAXAM set themselves, together with colleagues at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, can be likened to looking for a needle in a haystack. They were asked by the pharmaceutical company MSD (a trade name of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N.J., USA) to find out whether tiny amounts of the element zinc can get inside the needles of pre-filled syringes and, if so, where it lodges in the needles.

The background is the observation that, in rare cases, the needles of pre-filled syringes (PFS) can become blocked, for example if the syringes are not stored in a cool enough environment. This phenomenon has been known for some time and has already been studied by ANAXAM. However, what has remained unclear is exactly what triggers the blockage. One suggestion was that zinc from the needle shield – the rubber cap into which the needle is inserted when the syringe is manufactured – could leach into the drug solution to be injected, making it more viscous, which would ultimately lead to blockages. 

To investigate this theory, the team led by ANAXAM has now resorted to sophisticated methods of detection. These allowed them to look inside the blocked hypodermic needles and check whether and where zinc was present. The results have now been published in the journal Pharmaceutical Research. 

Convenient pre-filled syringes

Pre-filled syringes are widely available, practical and easy to use, both for healthcare professionals and for patients. The amount of solution to be injected is precisely measured, which virtually rules out dosing errors, for example. The fact that their needles can become clogged, especially when the solution to be injected is highly concentrated, is a well-known issue in the pharmaceutical industry and has also been raised during licensing applications. There have also been cases of clogged needles which have led to products being recalled. “So Merck was very interested in knowing whether zinc could in fact find its way into the needles and cause the blockage,” says Vlad Novak, project manager at ANAXAM. 

This meant that several questions had to be answered. Is there zinc inside the needle? And if so, where do they come from? What does the inside of a clogged needle look like? And is the zinc also present in the solution being injected, which could ultimately lead to the blockage?

Read more on the PSI website

Image: Employees of the technology transfer centre ANAXAM and researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI used the unique analytical methods available at PSI’s large research facilities to look inside pre-filled syringes.

Credit: © Adobe Stock

Lightsources.org appoints new Vice-Chair and launches its Vision and Strategic Goals for the next decade

Lightsources.org appoints new Vice-Chair and launches its Vision and Strategic Goals for the next decade

Lightsources.org, the international collaboration of light source science communicators, has appointed Ana Belén Martínez, Head of the Communications and Outreach Office at the ALBA Synchrotron near Barcelona in Spain, as the collaboration’s new Vice-Chair.

Ana joins Sandra Ribeiro, Communications Advisor at the Canadian Light Source (CLS), who is the Chair of Lightsources.org. Together they will lead the collaboration and guide it at a strategic level. Silvana Westbury, the Project Manager, manages the collaboration’s online activities and supports the 26 member organisations by facilitating opportunities for knowledge exchange and delivering communications activities aimed at a range of audiences including facility staff, existing and potential users, early career professionals and specialist publications.

Lightsources.org starts 2025 will a clear vision for the next decade. Ana’s appointment coincides with the publication of the collaboration’s 10-year Vision and Strategic Goals (link below), which gives Lightsources.org defined goals and tactics for supporting the communications activities of all its members.

Commenting on these exciting developments, Sandra Ribeiro says, “We are delighted to have Ana on board as Vice-Chair following a recent vote by our members. She replaces Isabelle Boscaro-Clarke, former Head of Communications at Diamond Light Source, whose energy and support was instrumental in making Lightsources.org the success it is today. Having built up the Communications and Outreach Office at ALBA over the past decade, Ana brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our collaboration. In addition, Ana has been an active member of Lightsources.org since 2016 and her passion for our field and willingness to support communications colleagues around the world make her ideal for the role of Vice-Chair”.

Ana Belén Martínez adds, “I’m thrilled to take on this new role in our collaboration, particularly at such an exciting time. Lightsources.org celebrated its 20th Anniversary last year and this milestone prompted us to focus on the vision and strategic goals for the next decade. As the home for the global light source community, we have exciting plans to help our members to attract the next generation of STEM professionals; provide training opportunities aimed at keeping members at the forefront of the ever evolving field of science communication; showcase the science enabled by light sources and its impact on society as a whole; and support members in important areas such as equality, diversity and inclusion and staff wellbeing.”    

Lightsources.org creates one voice for the field, ensuring member facilities are well positioned for funding, access, and research, to make use of each facility’s unique capabilities, and to enhance the effectiveness of the science carried out.

The Lightsources.org website is a global resource, providing information and updates about light sources research and achievements, and opportunities for careers and international collaboration. This is made possible by financial support from the member facilities, whose contributions enable further promotion and international coverage of their innovations and capabilities.

Light sources are large science facilities that create hubs of research and technical expertise. Scientists from both academia and industry can access and use the light produced in the form of beams of X-rays, Ultra-Violet and Infrared. The scale of their impact can be evidenced in the output. Since the collaboration’s member facilities came online more than 183,000 unique articles* have been published by the user communities and staff. Most of the light sources have capabilities in protein crystallography and there have been over 130,000 protein structures* deposited by our user communities and staff in the Worldwide Protein Data Bank. Light sources also employ large teams of scientists, engineers, data scientists, software engineers, along with support teams that include experts in technical support, procurement, finance, legal, user support, communications and human resources. These teams currently make up 8,000* staff spread over the 32 facilities within Lightsources.org.

*as of December 2023

The Lightsources.org 10-year Vision and Strategic Goals plan, can be viewed via the link below:

https://www.diamond.ac.uk/docroot/lightsources.org/ls.org-vision-goals/: Lightsources.org appoints new Vice-Chair and launches its Vision and Strategic Goals for the next decade

Image: Lightsources.org members at the 20th Anniversary in person meeting at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory, October 2024. Left to right – Shelly Kelly, APS physicist and group leader, Marie Gray, Argonne Integrated Communications Manager, Photon Sciences, Ana Belén Martínez, Head of the Communications and Outreach Office at ALBA & Vice-Chair of Lightsources.org, Ricarda Laasch, Manager, SSRL User Research Administration (SLAC), Beth Schlesinger, Agronne Head of Communications, Photon Sciences, Paul Jones, Project Manager and Coordinator for LCLS (SLAC), Silvana Westbury, Project Manager, Lightsources.org, Katelyn Towner, CHESS User Office Manager (Cornell), Cindy Lee, Senior Communications Specialist at the ALS (Berkeley), Mirjam van Daalen, Head of Communications at PSI, Gianna FazioLiu, Director of Communications at the ALS (Berkeley), Denise Yazak, NSLS-II & LBMS Science Communications Manager (Brookhaven), Sandra Ribeiro, Communications Advisor at the Canadian Light Source and Chair of Lightsources.org, Rick Ryan, Science Communicator at CHESS (Cornell), Stefania Mazzorana, Event and Development Manager at Diamond Light Source.

Credit: APS/Argonne

Reflecting on an incredible week of connections at SRI2024

Reflecting on an incredible week of connections at SRI2024

Last week, Lightsources.org travelled to Hamburg to be part of one of the community’s most popular events, the Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation (SRI) conference. The SRI conference is regarded as the world’s most important exchange forum for experimenters, developers and operators of large X-ray radiation sources.

SRI2024 was organised by DESY and the European XFEL and attracted over 1000 experts from all over the world. The conference gave Lightsources.org the perfect opportunity to celebrate its 20th Anniversary with scientists and technical experts from facilities, academic institutes and companies within the international light source community.   

As a collaboration of science communicators, Lightsources.org organised a series of events and activities aimed at raising the profile of its members, which include 24 synchrotrons and 8 Free Electron Lasers. An additional focus involved recognising the science and science communication talents of conference attendees through two poster prize competitions.

Isabelle Boscaro-Clarke, Head of Communications, Engagement and Impact at Diamond and Vice-Chair of Lightsources.org, comments, “It was a real honour for Lightsources.org to be part of this wonderful conference. Our collaboration of science communicators exists to provide one voice for the light source community. It was inspiring to meet so many delegates and exhibitors who share our passion for these amazing facilities and the incredible science they deliver.”  

Lightsources.org is particularly keen to support early career professionals and, to support this goal, two lunchtime sessions were offered during the conference. The session on Wednesday, which was chaired by Isabelle Boscaro-Clarke, focused on career insights and development with a panel of senior leaders including Gianluigi Botton, Diamond Light Source, Sakura Pascarelli, the European XFEL, Britta Redlich, HFML – FELIX and LEAPS, Laurent Chapon, Argonne (APS) and Gerd Materlik, UCL.

The second session on Thursday put the spotlight on science communication and gave participants the opportunity to practice and develop their communication skills. Attendees were supported by science communicators including Silvana Westbury, Lightsources.org, Isabelle Boscaro-Clarke, Diamond/Lightsources.org, Cindy Lee and Andrea Taylor, Berkeley ( ALS) and Synchrotron Radiation News, Miriam Arrell, the Paul Scherrer Institute (SLS / Swiss FEL) and Florentine Krawatzek,Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (BESSY II). During the session, attendees were given a series of tips to support them with their science communication journeys. The facilitators also highlighted the fact that getting involved in science communication is a great way to support professional career development through transferable skills. When individuals find the right kind of science communication for them, it also adds an extra element of fun to their professional life.  

Image: The Lightsources.org Team on the stand at SRI2024 (left to right) Silvana Westbury, Lightsources.org, Miriam Arrell, the Paul Scherrer Institute (SLS / Swiss FEL), Florentine Krawatzek,Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (BESSY II), Isabelle Boscaro-Clarke, Diamond/Lightsources.org, and Andrea Taylor, Berkeley( ALS) and Synchrotron Radiation News, and Cindy Lee, Berkeley ( ALS).
Credit: Lightsources.org

During the poster sessions, Lightsources.org organised the judging of posters that had been entered into the science and science communication poster prize competitions. Christian Schroer from DESY and Andy Dent from Diamond judged the SRI 2024 Science Poster Prize, while Cindy Lee from Berkeley Lab (ALS) and Miriam Arrell from Paul Scherrer Institute (SLS / SwissFEL) judged the SRI 2024 Science Communication Poster Prize, which was in memoriam to Till Mundzeck.

The Prize Award Session took place on Friday afternoon and the following winners were announced:

 SRI 2024 Science Poster Prize

The first prize went to Renan Ramalho Geraldes from Sirius at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) for the poster “The Loading Chamber of the SAPOTI Cryogenic Nanoprobe at the CARNAUBA Beamline at Sirius/LNLS”.

Judges comments, “Outstanding development of cryogenic stage and sample exchange for nano imaging which has wide applicability to other facilities.”  

The second prize was given to Tang Li from DESY for the poster “Real-life challenges of single-beam ptychography vs. multi-beam ptychography”.

Judges comments, “Clever use of a mask and analysis to generate multi-beams to enable “parallel” ptychography to image larger areas.”

The third prize went to Jan Lukas Dresselhaus from the Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging for the poster with the title “Aberration corrected multilayer Laue lenses enable focusing to below 3 nanometres”.

Judges comments, “Further application of calculating and using an array of refractive phase correctors to improve the focus from MLL’s.”

Image: SRI2024 Poster Prize winners: (Left to Right) Renan Ramalho Geraldes, Amna Majid, David Meier, Tang Li and Jan Lukas Dresselhaus with Lightsources.org Project Manager Silvana Westbury.
Credit: European XFEL, Frank Poppe

Honourable mentions went to:

Amna Majid       Fault detection in Ion Pumps at the European XFEL

Judges comments, “Very nice presentation and useful use of AI for detection of ion-pump failures with wide applicability”

Dawit Hailu       ForwardGAN, an Unsupervised Forward Operator-based Generative Adversarial Network for solving Inverse Problems: The the Near-Field Phase Retrieval Problem

Judges comments, “Helpful work showing how a Generative Network can be used to solve the phase retrieval problem with limited data.”

Qais Saadeh    Optical Constants Determination for Soft X-ray/EUV Optics: Refined Optical Data for Rhodium

Judges comments, “Very information poster on new measurements on the Rh optical constants in VUV range which are highly relevant to the silicon manufacturing industry.”

Zeynep Reyhan Öztürk        TXPES – A new soft X-ray spectroscopy beamline at the SESAME synchrotron

Judges comments, “Poster showing the excellent design for the new Turkish beamline to be built at Sesame.”

SRI 2024 Science Communication Poster Prize (in memoriam Till Mundzeck)

Jan Lukas Dresselhaus also won the Science Communication Poster Prize. The second prize was given to Amna Majid from European XFEL for the poster with the title “Fault detection in Ion Pumps at the European XFEL”. And the third prize went to David Meier from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin for his poster with the title “Offset finding of beamline parameters on the METRIXS beamline at BESSY II”. The SRI 2024 Science Communication Poster Prize (Public voting) was awarded to Emmanuel Aneke (APS) for the poster “Simulation and Measurement of Horizontal Emittance via Undulator High Harmonics at the APS-U”.

Honourable mentions went to:

Sonal Ramesh Patel (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin)

Rafael Celestre (Soleil)

Ibrahym Dourki (EuXFEL)

Emmanuel Aneke (Argonne)

Dawit Hailu (Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon)

Judges comments:

We are so pleased with the entries in the science communication contest. First, it takes courage to put yourself forward, particularly when communication has not been part of traditional academic training in sciences. Second, we saw a lot of good poster designs and heard a lot of great communication strategies in the presentations over the past three days. You all have a lot to be proud of. 

Some highlights included:

-font size and color choices that allowed us to easily read the text

-creative use of white space and graphics

-clear visual and verbal markers that helped us to orientate ourselves

– a clear outline of the big picture

– when participants checked in with us to see if we were following 

– clever use of humour and analogies that brought the science alive.

Both poster judges, Cindy Lee and Miriam Arrell, would be happy to stay in touch and offer critique. You can contact them via email at cindylee@lbl.gov and miriam.arrell@psi.ch. To help refresh their memories, please include a photo of yourself as well as your poster. That way, they can remember your presentation and offer specific feedback on your poster. 

The SRI 2024 Science Communication Poster Prize honours Till Mundzeck, who was an inspiring science communicator and author of books, who worked within DESY’s public relations team in Hamburg. He was a highly valued member of the Lightsources.org collaboration until he died recently. Till’s enthusiasm for good science and communication was infectious.

Jumpei Yamada from Osaka University, Japan, and Agostino Marinelli from the National Accelerator Laboratory SLAC, USA, were honoured for their important contributions to advance research using free electron X-ray lasers.

FELs of Europe Award

Jumpei Yamada of Osaka University, Japan, was awarded with the FELs of Europe Award for his work on “Ultimate focusing of X-ray free-electron laser down to 7×7 nm spot for achieving 1022 W/cm2 intensity”. Free electron lasers are machines where accelerated electrons are jointly forced to emit a very brilliant light. Particularly, the emitted X-ray light has developed into a unique tool for research: Scientists from all over the world use this extremely brilliant light for their research: from medical research to nanotechnology.

Kai-Siegbahn-Prize 2024

Agostino Marinelli of the National Accelerator Laboratory SLAC, U.S., was awarded with the “Kai-Siegbahn-Prize 2024” for his pioneering development of attosecond X-ray free electron lasers and their application to ultrafast X-ray science at the Linac Coherent Light Source at SLAC. The prize was established in 2009 in honour of Kai Siegbahn, the physics Nobel Prize winner 1981 and founder of the journal “Nuclear Instruments and Methods A” (NIM A).

The next SRI conference will be held in 2027 in Brazil.

Image: Isabelle Boscaro-Clarke (left) chairing the Lightsources.org careers session with panel members (left to right), Britta Redlich, HFML – FELIX and LEAPS, Gianluigi Botton, Diamond Light Source, Sakura Pascarelli, the European XFEL, Gerd Materlik, UCL and Laurent Chapon, Argonne (APS).

Credit: Lightsources.org

Community does us proud on #LightSourceSelfiesDay2024

Community does us proud on #LightSourceSelfiesDay2024

Inspired by our #LightSourceSelfies video campaign (featured here on our website) we invited everyone with a passion for light source science to join our #LightSourceSelfiesDay on Monday 20th May 2024.  This special day succeeded in lighting up social media with images that showed the wide range of places, people, technology, and world-changing science that makes up our amazing community.

Huge thanks to all those who participated. We look forward to repeating this activity in 2025. In the meantime, keep sharing your selfies and tagging us at #Happy20Lightsources and #LightSourceSelfiesDay2024.

Ready to join our celebrations? Mark your calendar for the 20th May – #LightSourceSelfiesDay2024

Ready to join our celebrations? Mark your calendar for the 20th May – #LightSourceSelfiesDay2024

Excitement is building at Lightsources.org HQ as we prepare to see your #LightSourceSelfiesDay posts on, or around, the 20th May 2024. Whatever your connection to light sources, we invite you to join us in celebrating all that has been achieved in the past 20 years and the exciting, world changing, science that is on the horizon in the future. Let’s light up social media with images from around our international community! #LightSourceSelfiesDay2024 #Happy20Lightsources

Greetings from our global light source community!

Greetings from our global light source community!

Greetings from around the light sources community

A common feature of all light sources is that they attract staff from a global community of scientists, engineers, computer scientists, project managers, administrators, science communicators, STEM students etc.

As you walk around synchrotron and free electron laser facilities you will hear many different languages being spoken. International customs and cuisines are discussed alongside the intricacies of the machine and the wide variety of scientific experiments.

Here, we present an international greeting as we start celebrations to mark the 20th Anniversary of Lightsources.org. If you are interested in job offers at synchrotrons and free electron lasers, check out our careers section. It’s updated on a daily basis! Careers at light sources around the world – https://lightsources.org/careers/

2024 marks 20 years of Lightsources.org!

2024 marks 20 years of Lightsources.org!

Our global collaboration of light source communicators was formed back in 2004 to provide one voice for the brightest science.

To celebrate our 20th Anniversary, we invite everyone with a passion for light source science to join our #LightSourceSelfiesDay on Monday 20.05.2024.

On 20th May, light up social media with photos that show the wide range of places, people, technology, and world changing science that make up our amazing community. Let’s see how many different images we can share in a single day!

You could be working at a synchrotron or free electron laser; preparing samples in your home laboratory; gathering samples from out in the field; travelling to a light source, relaxing after a hectic period of beamtime; participating in public engagement; or learning about light sources at your school or university.

The possibilities are endless. Creativity and teamwork are encouraged!

Tag us with:

#LightSourceSelfiesDay2024

#Happy20Lightsources

Find us at:

LinkedIn lightsources.org

Instagram lightsources_org

X @lightsources

This celebration is just one of a number of special activities we have planned for 2024. Keep an eye on our website, newsletter and social media for more details.

Supporting the light source community is a wonderful honour and we thank all our amazing members for the brilliant support they give us. Find out more about them here.  Their engagement means we can bring you hot off the press news, job opportunities, event details, proposal deadlines and much more. It also enables us to attend conferences and facility events to meet people face to face, spread the word about Lightsources.org and find new ways to encourage and support those who are in the early stages of their light source career journeys’.

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Image: The way we were! The Lightsources.org home page shortly after its launch in 2005

LAAAMP-Funded Team Makes a Journey of Miles and Nanometers

LAAAMP-Funded Team Makes a Journey of Miles and Nanometers

This is a story of miles and nanometers. Celline Awino Omondi and Miller Shatsala traveled from Kakamega, Kenya, to Berkeley, USA, through a grant from Lightsources for Africa, the Americas, Asia, Middle East, and Pacific (LAAAMP), a journey of over 9,400 miles. Their research interests, however, are best described with nanometers—very thin perovskite films to be used for solar energy.

At their home institution, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Omondi is a faculty member and Shatsala is a PhD student in the department of physics. Omondi’s interest in new materials began in graduate school. “I did a master’s in materials nanotechnology, and it was so interesting, I wanted to continue in materials science,” she said. Though her doctoral studies were in Germany, her research inspiration was closer to home. “In Africa, we have abundant solar radiation. So, we are looking for a way to tap into that solar radiation so that we can use it for our daily life.”

Omondi envisions many applications for photovoltaics. With the new materials under development, solar energy could be used in the future for everything from household electricity to vaccine storage in hospitals and irrigation on farms. New materials to harness solar energy would be life changing. “Most parts of Africa aren’t on the grid, and if they have electricity, it’s very expensive,” Omondi explained.

Similarly, Shatsala’s master’s thesis research focused on silicon solar cells. “Then I discovered that there are new materials coming up in solar energy whose efficiency was almost passing silicon, so that’s why I shifted to perovskites,” he said. 

To characterize the perovskites they’re studying, the two researchers came to the Advanced Light Source through a LAAAMP Faculty-Student (FAST) Teams grant. The program provides financial support for PhD students and their faculty advisors from Africa, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Pacific to spend two months in residence at a collaborative partner light source. With this training opportunity, scientists like Omondi and Shatsala will be able to take their newfound skills and knowledge back to a region that is still in the planning phases for its own synchrotron facility. One day in the future, the two researchers could be part of operating and using this facility—the African Light Source. “We were privileged to be picked to be among the few people in Africa to come to the ALS,” said Shatsala.

Read more on the ALS website

Image: The researchers at Beamline 7.3.3. Left to right: Yunfei Wang, Aidan Coffey, Miller Shatsala, Celline Omondi, Chenhui Zhu

NSRRC 30th Anniversary of First Light

NSRRC 30th Anniversary of First Light

The National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC) commemorated the “30th Anniversary of First Light” on October 23rd. Premier Chien-Jen Chen of the Executive Yuan graced the occasion with his presence and delivered an address. He highlighted NSRRC’s steady and solid progress over the past three decades, from the “Taiwan Light Source (TLS)” to the “Taiwan Photon Source (TPS),” making it Taiwan’s largest R&D platform. Premier Chen envisions NSRRC as a key player in advancing Taiwan’s industry, academia, and research through its unique scientific and technological strengths. He underscored the imperative for NSRRC to sustain its R&D momentum, thus laying a solid foundation for Taiwan’s science and technology sector.

NSRRC hosts over 2,000 researchers annually from 20 countries, totaling 12,000 visits to utilize its exceptional synchrotron radiation capabilities for research purposes. The successful establishment of the TPS experiment facilities boosts utilization. Premier Chen emphasized the vital roles of both TLS and TPS in material development, cancer detection, biomedicine, pharmaceuticals, and achieving net-zero carbon emissions. NSRRC’s diverse contributions solidify its importance in Taiwan’s scientific and technological progress.

In addition to Premier Chen, notable guests included Deputy Minister of the National Science and Technology Council, Minn-Tsong Lin; former President of Academia Sinica, Yuan-Tsehn Lee; and esteemed Academicians Luo-Chuang Lee, Maw-Kuen Wu, Lih-Juann Chen, Chien-Te Chen, and Yu Wang. Also present were the Directors of the Taiwan Space Agency, the National Center for High-Performance Computing, and the Taiwan Instrument Research Center: Jong-Shinn Wu, Chau-Lyan Chang, and Cheng-Tang Pan, respectively. These attendees witnessed the inception, growth, and flourishing of Taiwan’s synchrotron radiation development.

Read more on the NSRRC website

Image: NSRRC 30th Anniversary address by Premier Chien-Jen Chen of the Executive Yuan

Credit: NSRRC

New CEO appointed for the UK’s national synchrotron, Diamond Light Source

New CEO appointed for the UK’s national synchrotron, Diamond Light Source

Harwell Campus, UK – 9th August 2023, Professor Gianluigi Botton has been appointed as new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Diamond Light Source

Professor Botton is a renowned expert in microscopy and spectroscopy with an impressive track record in research and funding, having secured more than $50M as Principal Investigator and $90M as a co-investigator and has more than 350 peer-reviewed publications. His work has been cited more than 34,000 times. Over the course of his highly successful career, Gianluigi has been awarded the Microbeam Analysis Society’s Presidential Award (2020), the Metal Physics Award of the Canadian Materials Science Conference (2017); he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2018) and Fellow of the Microscopy Society of America (2014).

Read more on the Diamond website

International Day of Light #LightSourceSelfie special from the SLS

International Day of Light #LightSourceSelfie special from the SLS

A community driven by curiosity!

To celebrate International Day of Light 2023, we bring you a #LightSourceSelfies special (see below) from Ludmila Leroy, a postdoc at the Swiss Light Source (SLS), which is located at the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) in Villigen, Switzerland. With an energy of 2.4 GeV, the SLS provides photon beams of high brightness for research in materials science, biology and chemistry.

Ludmila, who is from Brazil, is studying the properties of magnetic materials. She highlights the versatility of light sources as hugely advantageous to science and learning from, and about, nature. “We are all driven by curiosity and these versatile facilities gives us the ability to try different approaches and push the boundaries in our experiments.” Looking back on her career to date, Ludmila would advise her younger self “not to be scared to reach out for the world” as there are many light sources facilities around the globe and travelling to different countries is an exciting part of being a scientist.

As with all light sources, the SLS operates around the clock and Ludmila has a new take on making night shifts more bearable. Throughout the #LightSourceSelfie campaign, most participants have mentioned coffee, chocolate or candy when talking about night shift survival strategies. For Ludmila, night shifts are more bearable when she eats healthily and makes sure that she keeps hydrated.

And when she is not at a light source….Ludmila is in charge of the Music Club at PSI, which brings together a mixture of PhD students, postdocs, technicians and staff scientists. The PSIchedelics is just one of the society’s musical entertainment offerings. Ludmila plays the bass and sings in this band and her #LightSourceSelfie ends with a fantastic clip of them in action. You can find out more about music at PSI here: Music at PSI | Our Research | Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI)