Kick-off for getting involved in the future ESS science
Today, a broad consultation on the future science at the European Spallation Source kicks off. With the kick-off conference “Science & Scientists at ESS”, ESS launches a series of meetings where scientists are invited to get involved in designing the future science. The kick-off takes place on 22 and 23 July as a satellite meeting to the European Conference of Neutron Scattering, held in Prague, the Czech Republic.
The European Spallation Source will be a research facility for materials and life science, based on the world’s most powerful neutron source. The planning of the future ESS science and instrumentation programmes has started, and over the coming years it will include extensive consultation on the scientific opportunities and challenges for research with neutrons at ESS.
As part of this consultation, ESS will arrange a series of meetings under the theme “Get Involved”. In these, a large number of scientists from various scientific disciplines will participate to discuss the opportunities for benefiting from the unique neutron beams of ESS.
- We are calling for input from the potential users of ESS to participate in defining the scientific capabilities and infrastructure of ESS. Not only do we want researchers to become involved, we do in fact need researchers to become involved in order to design the ESS instruments to give the best possible science opportunities during the coming decades. Close interaction with the user community at all stages is essential in order to set the right scientific and technical priorities, says Dimitri Argyriou, the ESS Science Director.
The “Science & Scientists at ESS” meeting starting today will feature questions, answers and proposals on the scientific utilisation of ESS, several scientists presenting their ideas on “My ESS”, as well as lessons learned from neutron research facilities in the USA and Japan.
For more information, please contact:
Dimitri Argyriou, ESS Science Director. E-mail dimitri.argyriou@esss.se, Tel. 46-(0)767-72 67 42
Marianne Ekdahl, Communications Officer Press & Politics. E-mail marianne.ekdahl@esss.se, Tel. 46-(0)46-222 83 89
ESS IN SHORT:
The European Spallation Source – the next generation facility for materials research and life science
The European Spallation Source (ESS) will be a multi-disciplinary research laboratory based on the world’s most powerful neutron source. ESS can be likened to a large microscope, where neutrons are used instead of light to study materials – ranging from polymers and pharmaceuticals to membranes and molecules – to gain knowledge about their structure and function. ESS will be up to 100 times better than existing facilities, opening up new possibilities for researchers in for example health, environment, climate, energy, transport sciences and cultural heritage.
ESS is an intergovernmental research infrastructure project, and it will be built in Lund in southern Scandinavia. At least 17 European countries will take part in the construction, financing and operation of the ESS. Sweden and Denmark will co-host the ESS and cover 50 percent of the 1,4 B€ investment costs and 20 percent of the operating costs together with the Nordic and Baltic states.
The European Spallation Source ESS AB is a public limited company, today owned by the Swedish and the Danish states. ESS AB is planning the future international ESS organisation. Building is expected to start around 2013, the first neutrons to be produced in 2019 and the facility to be fully operational around 2025.
ESS will support a user community of 5000 researchers and will have great strategic importance for the development of the European Research Area. Near by there will be complementary laboratories, such as the synchrotron MAX IV in Lund and XFEL and PETRAIII in Hamburg.
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