Update from LINXS Director

There has been a huge amount of activity at LINXS over the last month or so. In fact, we are frequently running into difficulties accommodating these events in the current premises at Ideon. Fortunately it is not long before we will move into the new building at Science Village, after which many of these problems will fall away.

On our website, you will find an interview with Professor Andrew Boothroyd. Andrew is from the Physics Department at Oxford University where he is Head of Condensed Matter Physics. He also leads the recently funded LINXS Quantum Materials Theme (QMat) which focuses on linking theory with experimental work at ESS and MAX IV. This Theme kicks off on 20–21 November. In his interview, Andrew highlights his aspirations for the Theme as well as the priority it places on the involvement of early career researchers within the theory community.

We also highlight the second young researchers’ event as part of the young researchers initiative (YRI) in soft matter; this was organised by Sophie Ayscough (ISIS/ESS) and Jennifer Gilbert (Chalmers). It was a very lively event and attracted researchers from a wide range of different institutes. Sophie and Jennifer have emphasized the contribution of these YRI events towards dissolving institutional and interdisciplinary barriers and in forging new collaborations. It has also been good to see the impact of Jitendra Mata’s stay at LINXS. He was invited as a guest researcher to LINXS as part of the Northern Lights on Food Theme.

The new National and International Theme Call 2024 has just opened – please think about the possibility of applying for a Theme and encourage others to do likewise. Themes are three-year funded initiatives where the goal is to bring new research communities together for original, innovative, and pioneering proposals that will advance science using X-rays and neutrons.

Please see the website for upcoming events: these include the ongoing webinar series on Preparing for Beamtime; this time Alex Rodzinka from Cranfield University/ISIS Neutron and Muon Source will talk about neutron diffraction and neutron imaging on 11th November. On 15th November, there will be a LINXS seminar from Anthony Watts (University of Oxford) on the importance of water in membrane receptor function. On 26th November, the Integrative Pharmacology and Drug Discovery (IPPD) Theme will host its final conference which is entitled: The power of scattering and imaging in understanding and treating disease.

Finally, note that AMBER’s third postdoctoral recruitment call is about to be announced. AMBER is a major EU MSCA COFUND project that is centred around Advanced Multiscale Biological imaging using European Research infrastructures, and addresses key needs in biological imaging over lengthscales from molecular, through cellular, to tissue, organ and organism levels of organisation. It funds a total of 47 postdoctoral research projects from Lund University, MAX IV, ESS, EMBL, ILL, Leicester University, and IMOL.

LINXS Director Trevor Forsyth. Photo: Kennet Ruona.