NSG Newsletter - 2022

UK Neutron & Muon Science and User Meeting (NMSUM) 2022
The UK Neutron & Muon Science and User Meeting will take place at Warwick University from 25-27 April 2022.

This meeting, jointly organised by the NSG, ISIS and ILL, will be a chance for UK users of neutron and muon beams to hear about latest science using these techniques, together with facility updates and other news of interest to the community.

The structure of the meeting will be:
Monday 25 April (11.00am onwards): Student day.
Tuesday 26 April (09.00 onwards): Science day.
Wednesday 27 April (09.00 – 13.00): User day.
Facility updates and other news of interest to ISIS and ILL users.

The 2022 BTM Willis Prize, awarded by the Neutron Scattering Group of the IoP and RSC, will be presented at the meeting.

See here for more information:

Contributed Presentations for NMSUM 2022
Contributions for oral and poster presentations for NMSUM 2022 will be opened very shortly. Please keep an eye on the following link for further details in due course:

https://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/NMSUM2022.aspx

Symposium Celebrating International Women’s Day at ISIS (8-9 March)
This event will be a celebration of International Women’s Day and the role of ISIS in sustainability-focused research. We invite members of our user community to contribute talks about work within the broad theme of sustainability, including research that is carried out by, led by and/or inspired by women. We aim to put together a diverse program of science-focused talks and will have a session of short “flash presentations” targeted towards giving students an opportunity to share their work with a wider audience. There will also be a panel discussion around the central theme of the meeting, highlighting the contributions of and challenges facing women in our community.

More information at the this link. Please contact Helen Playford (helen.playford@stfc.ac.uk) with any questions or comments.

Rapid and Xpress access routes at ISIS
ISIS has just reopened Rapid and Xpress access routes for TS2 instruments (not TS1).

The Tenth Erwin Felix Lewy Bertaut Prizes
The European Neutron Scattering Association (ENSA) and the European Crystallographic Association (ECA) will be awarding two Bertaut prizes to young scientists (<8 years post-PhD) in recognition of notable experimental, methodological or theoretical contributions to the investigation of matter using crystallographic or neutron scattering methods. Nomination deadline is 31 March 2022. See here for more information.

7th European Crystallographic School
Registration is now open for the 7th European Crystallographic School, which takes place in Lisbon between the 10-15 July 2022.

The school will focus on a wide range of topics and will be of benefit to young scientists. Please share this with your networks to increase awareness of the school. Register here.

New canSAS working group: SESANS Reproducibility
Spin-echo small-angle neutron scattering (or SESANS) is a variant of SANS that uses the Larmor precession of polarised neutrons to study the structure of materials over length scales larger than those accessible by conventional SANS (comparable to USANS), and in real space. We have formed a new subgroup of the canSAS Reproducibility and Reliability Working Group to focus on “SESANS Reproducibility”. The mission of the group is to achieve SESANS measurements that are the same, independent of the instrument used.

More information about the group can be found on the canSAS wiki.

Lipid Bilayers at ESS - “BESS 2022” meeting in Lund 13-15 June 2022
Save the date for the “Bilayers at ESS – BESS” workshop (13-15 June 2022). The aim of the workshop is to bring together researchers working on the physico-chemical characterisation (including structure and dynamics) of lipid bilayers by both experimental and theoretical approaches.

The meeting, provisionally in hybrid format, is now open for registration and abstract submission. Register here

ISIS Shutdown Updates
During the long shutdown, the ISIS synchrotron RF section have replaced all six of the fundamental RF systems that drive the synchrotron acceleration. This will not only make them more reliable and easier to maintain, but will lead to a huge reduction in ISIS’ electricity demand. Cool pictures and more information on shutdown updates can be found here.

Update on the ILL20-23 Programme and the 2021-2022 long shutdown work
The ILL20-23 programme is the ILL’s most important maintenance and upgrade programme, involving several long shutdowns. The objectives for the current and longest shutdown, spanning most of 2022, include the renewal of the H1-H2 beam tube, the delivery of a number of major Endurance guide and instrument projects, and the replacement of essential Equipment.

The replacement of the reactor chimney - which not only accommodates the fuel element in the core but also channels its cooling - is one of the most important milestones in the schedule. A huge amount of work has been done in the guide halls, and the carter pink housing and in-pile guides have been dismounted to make way for the new H1-H2 beamtube. The leaktightness of the reactor containment has also recently been successfully tested. More information here.

Get in touch
Do you have a news item that you would like to see included in this newsletter? Are you advertising for PhD or PDRA position in the field of neutron scattering? Have you just defended your PhD and want the community to know about this? Have you been to a conference or published/read a book or chapter or paper that is of interest to the neutron scattering community? Then get in touch with a short description of the item at committee@ukneutron.org and we will include the item in the newsletter for the following month as well as publicize on our webpage and through our Twitter account @ukneutron.