Instrumentation takes centre stage

“SRI2012 has exemplified both the healthy competition as well as the many collaborative projects between facilities and new photon sources of all kind,” concluded scientific co-ordinators Paul Dumas of Soleil and Jean Susini of the ESRF. “A real scientific synergy is clearly emerging. Furthermore, the quality and size of the commercial exhibition have reinforced our belief in the growing importance of the partnership between synchrotron facilities and industry.”

Delegates from France and Germany comprised 25% and 22% of attendees, respectively, at the four-day event, followed by the US (15%), Japan (14%) and the UK (7%). At 11.2%, ESRF staff made up the largest contribution from a single institute, followed by Soleil (8.3%), DESY (6.9%), Diamond Light Source (5.4%) and the Paul Scherrer Institute (4.6%). The bulk of participants were aged 31–50, according to conference organisers.

Scientific proceedings spanned 21 parallel and four plenary sessions, and included four keynote lectures covering the life sciences, industry, environmental science and X-ray free-electron lasers. A group of 270 delegates also took a guided visit of the ESRF. 

“This conference confirmed the tremendous progress made by the synchrotron radiation community in many scientific and technical areas over the past few decades,” said Susini. “We broke a record for attendance, reflecting the growing size of the community.”

The next SRI conference will be organised by BNL/NSLS-II in 2015.

This article originally appeared in ESRFnews, December 2012. 

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Top image: Addressing the SRI audience.