A collection of practical information to support people engaged in LINXS activities.

• About bookings, event organisation and management, the calendar, and travel arrangements, please contact our Activities Coordinator, Shandana Mufti, at: shandana.mufti@linxs.lu.se.

• For questions about communication, interviews, news and the newsletter contact our Communications Officer, Noomi Egan, at: noomi.egan@linxs.lu.se.

• For any other questions about fellowships or organisational matters, please contact our Head of Administration, Anna Ntinidou (pronounced "deeneedou" with a "d"), at: anna.ntinidou@linxs.lu.se.

LINXS supports many different kinds of activities to further its mission and goals. These activities include:

Guest researchers - It is a major part of LINXS mission to fund the travel and residence costs of visiting researchers, usually connected to the ongoing Themes and Working Groups. LINXS is also happy to provide office space for researchers who are visiting the local large research infrastructures, MAX IV and the ESS, so that they can stay and realise collaborations and/or analysis of data.

On-line - Most activities listed here can be planned as physical, online or hybrid events. An online presence is a great way of reaching a wider audience and increasing your impact. LINXS has experience, infrastructure and equipment to help with setting up wholly or partially web-based events. Note that event organisers are responsible for managing their hybrid events. Also see the separate Handbook question on this.

Seminars - Guest researchers and other invited guests regularly hold seminars at LINXS, and are encouraged to highligt their research area to the community connected to LINXS.

Conferences and Symposia - typically major events with 100+ participants, invited speakers and keynote speakers. Conferences can be arranged within themes or in collaboration with other parties. We do encourage our working groups that are planning conferences as a part of their activities to also apply for external funding if possible and/or to set a conference fee as appropriate given budget plans. We often provide discounted attendance for young researchers. Conferences typically average budgets of 150-250 kSEK in total, depending on length, speakers and number of attendees.

Research programmes - Are focused efforts of research, resulting in the development of new scientific results or tools in an area that is relevant to LINXS mission, typically connected to a specific Theme or Working Group. In general LINXS does not fund research directly, rather LINXS facilitates the collaboration by bringing researchers together and/or acting as a network to connect to infrastructure and know-how necessary for research.

Workshops - Workshops are smaller gatherings, typically up to 100 people. They tend to be more focused on a specific topic or challenge. LINXS has a seminar room with capacity for up to 60+ people, incuding smaller rooms for breakout sessions or group work. A typical workshop has a total budget of 20-60 kSEK depending on number of attendees and invited speakers.

Hackathons - Hackathons are meetings that address specific needs-driven challenges in a set time. Typically scientists or users seeking solutions within a given paradigm or discipline are matched with experts that can facilitate finding solutions to problems. These can be related to anything from experimental preparation and setups, to post-analysis and hardware/software design and use. Hackathons typically run for a week or two and have a budget of 80-100 kSEK per week. The number of participants is usually lower than a workshop, around 20-40 people.

A clinic is a variant of a hackathon with a designated day/time with experts on hand to help with data and experiment preparation/application and analysis, where people can pre-book or walk in to solve issues they have. Clinics are being trialled in 2023, and if successful will be a regular feature when LINXS is located in the Science Village, on track for 2024.

Other - The activites of LINXS are not necessarily limited to the above, and LINXS is also actively involved in providing resources such as: online tools that aid the community, acting as a repository for either physical or virtual resources, coordinating schools at all levels and participating in projects that are relevant to its vision and mission. LINXS also has member organisations and partnerships, and will endeavour to collaborate with other organisations, institutes and networks whenever appropriate. We encourage anyone who has ideas and needs in this regard to contact the LINXS management.

LINXS has equipment for fully on-line, or hybrid events on or off its premises. This equpment is adequate for meetings of up to about 60 people. We can provide this equipment, help set it up, and also instruct reasonably tech-savvy people how to use it. However, we do not have the manpower available, by default, to manage meetings for you. Event organisers are responsible for ensuring that someone can manage the event while it is going on.

This means that you will have to identify a person or persons responsible as a part of the event planning process. Solutions to this range from assigning somone within your own organisation to do it, hiring in student helpers, or even professional large-scale event managers with their own equipment (if the size and character of the event requires it and the budget allows). We can always point you in the right direction if you need help in finding a suitable event manager.

We generally use Zoom for meetings. We use the dedicated Zoom servers of Lund University in order to keep communications secure under European and Swedish data laws. Other solutions, e.g. Microsoft Teams, can be used if desired.

Sustainability

Please do consider the planet and the carbon footprint of activities when planning, for instance use remote conferencing whenever possible (LINXS is fully equipped for digital events and digital participation), and consider making vegetarian food the default option at events so that eating meat has to be an active choice. Encourage travel by train and other sustainable transport modes whenever feasible. Travel booked in connection with LINXS' activities (such as flights) should be climate compensated whenever possible. If people do fly over, please make sure that their time is well spent and that their presence benefits as many activities as possible, e.g. for numerous meetings, seminars, workshops, etc..

Equality and diversity

It is important to also consider gender balance and diversity whenever possible, especially for communities that traditionally have a skewed record. As a matter of principle, we encourage people who arrange activities to aim for a gender balance of at least 60%-40%. Focus on what you can control, such as balance in the members of panels, invited speakers, and guest researchers.

Ethics

It is important that all people involved in LINXS should follow good practices in research ethics, and they are individually responsible for doing so. Guidelines are always provided by your host organisation, the Lund University ones can be found here.

Activity Planning

• Decide the date and time of the activity.

• Book a meeting with the Activities Coordinator to discuss the structure and the practicalities of the activity: is it an open event, or an event where people need to register? Will it include digital participation? Are there keynote speakers? What is the budget? Food and catering requirements?

• Create a short descriptive text and chose a suitable image for the activity and send it to the Activities Coordinator who will publish the information on the LINXS website.

• Include the Activities Coordinator in the dialogue with keynotes (to plan arrangements concerning travel and accommodation).

• For larger activities, publish the agenda, structure and any FAQ:s about the activity in good time before the set out dates.

• Circulate an invitation to relevant networks and contacts well ahead of the activity.

• LINXS has an Indico server (as used by CERN, MAX IV and ESS among others) for conference and meeting management. This can be used for convenience, to handle more complicated conferences, to store presentations and other material from meetings and much more.

Communication

LINXS will always include information about your activity on the website and in the LINXS newsletter.

Apart from these channels, you can also consider other communications options to reach additional target groups. Please discuss with the Communications Officer if you need support. Examples of channels are:

• MAX IV and ESS newsletter(s) as appropriate.

• Other relevant newsletters at universities.

• Faculty newsletters and information screens where relevant.

To increase interest in the activity, you can also do a short interview or videorecording for the LINXS website to highlight research content, challenges and discussion features of the activity.

Press invitations or press releases can also be an option if you deem that the activity has a broader societal interest.

General principles

First and foremost it is up to the working group that organises an event together with LINXS support staff to see if a fee is appropriate given the available budget. Larger events like conferences and symposia often do have a fee. LINXS is a lean and largely taxpayer or donor-funded organisation which mostly depends on voluntary engagement from its community. It is therefore as a matter of principle not appropriate (and in some cases illegal) that anyone makes a profit from events organised wholly or partly at LINXS’ expense. It also in general not appropriate for funding to go towards salaries, honorariums, or similar for appearing or teaching at an event. For most employees of universities in Sweden, a contribution to the salary for teaching or lecturing is highly regulated via their respective units for commissioned education. As a rule of thumb, if it is not interesting enough for researchers to contribute to a school or event for its and their own sake, LINXS should not fund it.

However, it can be appropriate to charge a fee if the funding budgeted or obtained for the event does not fully cover what one wishes to do. If in doubt don’t hesitate to discuss this with the LINXS administration. There are usually three main cases to consider:

1. The event is fully funded by LINXS

If you are planning to charge for an event, please budget for and consider:

• A fee is usually charged for events longer than one day, particularly and/or if a dinner is included.

• A reduced fee for graduate students and early stage researchers where appropriate.

• Taking care to describe why you must charge a fee and what it goes toward paying. Examples can be extra funds to afford a joint lunch, dinner, an activity for attendees or travel and lodging for attendees, organisers and speakers.

2. The event is a partner event partially funded and organised by LINXS and another source or sources

In this case the definition of fees might involve principles also linked to another funding source. For instance any discounts might be extended to a wider consortium depending on a specific project or initiative that the funding of the event is linked to. Please take care to:

• Specify what the funding sources are in materials promoting the event, and include not only LINXS logo, but the other sources’.

• Describe which fees apply, to whom and why.

• Decide how the registration will happen and how to communicate data on attendees etc to LINXS’ Science Activities Coordinator.

3. The event is hosted by LINXS

The event is then only located at LINXS. In this case it is largely up to the organisers, and LINXS is a collaborator and visible via its name and logo. As a matter of course a general number of attendees should be communicated to LINXS whenever possible, but LINXS does not sponsor the event in any other major way. LINXS reserves the right to not be associated with events that are unbecoming to a non-profit based organisation. LINXS can announce the event via its website, decided on a case-by-case basis in accordance to the event's relevance to synchrotron and neutron science.

It is always best for the community at large when information is available to be spread as widely as possible. Therefore, LINXS strongly encourages the availability of presentations, videos and material from activities and events. We will always take care to host videos in an ad-free way, marked as educational material and under a creative commons license (read about the current one here). We always comply with GDPR, for instance we take care to cut away content with people who have not consented to be in a video. Main things to consider:

• Decide how you will handle material such as written documents and presentations before the event. LINXS' tools enables them to be anything from confidential, available only in a specified group or publicly available and searchable.

• Take care to get written consent from presenters/creators (in an e-mail or similar) for posting videos and written material.

• Creators of content are responsible for providing correct attribution. Creators should reference the material of others and have fair use principles in mind.

Send out a thank you e-mail to all participants (try to include information concerning future plans within the working group or theme).

• Fill out the LINXS reporting template as soon as possible and send the report to the Activities Coordinator. For yearly reporting and tracking purposes, LINXS needs to gather documentation and activity (e.g. conferences, workshops, round tables, hackathons etc.) summaries for all WG and theme activities.

• If appropriate and possible, save presentations (for example in the Indico schedule) and any recordings/photos from the event. Inform the management of the location of these things.

Reporting Template for LINXS activities

As a LINXS fellow, you are expected to:

• Use the LINXS affiliation for all scientific papers, presentations and other research activities that relate to LINXS research.

• Acknowledge funding or financial support from LINXS.

• Take part in LINXS activities whenever possible to contribute to building the LINXS community.

• Take care of and respect the LINXS premises: keep communal space tidy and neat, remove coffee cups and dirty plates. Restore and return equipment and furniture after use.

Publication and Affiliation Instructions for LINXS Fellows

Instructions for Acknowledging LINXS Funding and In-Kind Support

As a leader of a core group or a working group, you are expected to:

• Regularly organise meetings of the group.

• Drive the development and scientific operations of the group.

• If you’re a Core Group leader, regularly keep the LINXS management updated on progress and plans through the Science Management meetings, either personally or by sending a representative of the Core Group.

• If you’re a Working Group leader, regularly keep the Core Group updated on progress and plans.

• Propose new or alternative group members.

• Contribute to LINXS’ mission to promote science and education focusing on the use of neutrons and X-rays.

As a group member, you are expected to:

• Contribute to the development and scientific operations of the group.

• Contribute to LINXS’ mission to promote science and education focusing on the use of neutrons and X-rays.

Link to more detailed description of Roles and Responsibilities here

Yes, it’s possible to have sponsors for your event but you have to arrange this on your own. If you are looking to secure external funding or in-kind support, please discuss with the Activities Coordinator.

We usually only cover travel and accommodation costs for speakers, and this needs to be agreed on in advance. Please reach out to LINXS administration before an event to check if your travel costs can be covered. As a rule, LINXS will always pay directly for eligible costs, we never expect or accept individual payment with reimbursement.

Digital participation etiquette

To ensure a respectful and productive digital environment for all participants, we kindly ask you to adhere to the following guidelines:

1. No recording: Please refrain from recording any part of the event without prior consent from the organisers.

2. Respectful communication: Please do not use the chat or Q&A function for personal/confidential/commercial communication as all interactions are automatically saved. Be respectful towards fellow participants and presenters.

   LINXS has the right to remove participants that violates these rules.

Physical participation etiquette

We kindly ask for your cooperation with the following:

1. Cleanliness: Please help us maintain a clean environment by disposing of your trash. There is no cleaning staff available during the event.

2. Photography notice: Please be aware that we may take photos during our events for promotional purposes. If you prefer not to be included in any photographs, please let us know.

3. No-show fee: We understand that plans can change, but please notify us in advance if you can no longer participate in the event. Our events have a no-show fee of 200 SEK per day to cover the cost of wasted food.

We have been made aware of a concerning issue regarding phishing emails from “travel agencies” targeting speakers scheduled for our LINXS events. If you are in any doubt about the legitimacy of an email regarding travel arrangements, please contact the organisers! Please note that LINXS will never request speakers to pay invoices for later reimbursement (as the phishing emails might suggest).