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Outreach to existing and new Scientific Members

The long shutdown at ILL in 2022 is an opportunity for our scientists to spend time with collaborators, attend conferences and generally reach out to new communities. The Scientific Members are an integral part of the ILL and attending conferences in their countries and organizing conferences with them is an important aspect of the partnership.

In this context, ILL and the National Institute of Chemistry in Slovenia organized a one-day workshop on April 8 in Ljubljana to mark their becoming the newest Scientific Member at ILL in 2020 and to explore new research opportunities with neutrons. In a dynamic, socially distanced atmosphere, involving about 40 participants, the current status and future perspectives were presented by ILL staff (Mark Johnson, Thomas Hansen, Ralf Schweins and Paul Steffens) in the morning, while Slovenian scientists presented their neutron-based research, in areas ranging from biology and energy materials to magnetism, in the afternoon session. Participants from both sides looked forward to pursuing these projects when neutrons are back at ILL at the end of the year.

The close tie with Slovenia has recently been further enhanced on the EPN campus with the nomination of Dr Kristina Djinović-Carugo, who was raised and educated in Slovenia, as the director of the EMBL Grenoble outstation.

A number of other events with existing and potential new Scientific Members are planned this year, including a neutron day at the Struktura 2022 conference in Czech Republic in June and a workshop in Israel in November, both also involving ESS.