Remove the bottlenecks – how to make more people use ESS and MAX IV

Why is it that some large-scale research infrastructures are not used as much as they could be? This is the question focused on in a new report about the neutron spallation facility ESS and the synchrotron light facility MAX IV.

ESS and MAX IV provide researchers in Sweden with unique opportunities to conduct excellent research. The facilities also offer opportunities for academia, industry, and the public sector to collaborate in finding solutions that lead to sustainable societal development. This makes the facilities important nodes for Swedish research and innovation, and strengthen Sweden as a knowledge nation.

But there are bottlenecks that hamper the use.

“More persons within more sectors could benefit from the opportunities that ESS and MAX IV offer. But to achieve this, both the facilities and the ecosystem around them need to be developed. This is particularly clear when it comes to handling and analysing the data produced by the experiments,” says Maja Hellsing, Head of Office for the Office for ESS/MAX IV.

In the report, a number of researchers who are familiar with large-scale research infrastructure give their views on where the bottlenecks exist. They also provide recommendations for how to remove them.

The three most highly prioritised recommendations:

1. Develop support for user-adapted data analysis, including AI support and support for management, storage, and visualisation
2. Safeguard long-term increased competence in the use of synchrotron and neutron use by establishing a graduate school for this purpose
3. Increase the HEIs’ resources to develop methodology that can contribute to answering new and complex research questions with the help of advanced experiments.

The purpose of the report is to stimulate discussion and concrete measures within and between the facilities, but also at higher education institutions, research institutes, and research funding bodies, as well as in industry and in politics. The report is written by Pia Kinhult at ESS, Monica Ringvik at Chalmers Next Labs, Daniel Söderberg at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and Kajsa M Paulsson at Lund University.

Bottlenecks that delay the benefits of large-scale research infrastructure