Precise crystallography has significantly contributed to the success and recent developments in materials science, solid state physics and chemistry. Among the available programs for diffraction data analysis, the FullProf Suite appears as one of the most widely used packages by the scientific community working in these fields (more than 4000 citations).

From time to time courses and tutorials have been given throughout the world by the author or other users of the programs; however no permanent school dedicated to its use existed up to now. By creating a regular school on the FullProf Suite, our aim was to directly contribute to the training of the upcoming generation of scientists. These intensive, hands-on, schools are  focused on the analysis of diffraction data with the FullProf Suite and will concern data coming from powders, single crystals, x-rays and time-of-flight neutron diffraction. FPSchool-2008 was focused on the analysis of large amount of diffraction data from phase transformations as a function of temperature. It took place at the Institute Laue-Langevin and welcomed 30 students.

The school lasted 5 days: three days dedicated to general applications plus two days dedicated to a specialised topic that will change each year. In 2008 the school was mainly devoted to powder diffraction, in particular to the treatment of large amounts of data coming from high throughput machines like D20.

Theoretical introductory lectures (max. 1 hour/lecture) were followed by hands on practical computing sessions. The afternoon was mostly dedicated to practical sessions.