ESS/MAX IV/SciLifeLab Summit 2025
On October 3rd, we will meet at LINXS
External link.at The Loop External link.in Lund for this year's ESS/MAX IV/SciLifeLab Summit. We will discuss how AI and data in research look today and where we are headed.
Mark the date in your calendar now and feel free to contact us if you would like an invitation, we can be reached at emk@vr.se
Below you will find information about and links to recordings of previous years' Summits.
Watch the recording of the 2024 Summit here External link.
On October 17, the ESS/MAX IV Summit was held at Mölnlycke's brand new headquarters in GoCo Health City. The theme was life sciences - from structural biology to medical technology and this was discussed in panels and with contributions from important organizations in the industry. Some of the participants listened to and spoke with were the following:
- Zlatko Rihter, CEO, Mölnlycke Healt Care AB
- Jacob Torell, VD Steptura
- Hanna Barriga, Associate Professor, KTH, SciLifeLab
- Fredrik Wessberg, CEO CCRM Nordic
- Jan Ellenberg, Director, SciLifeLab
- Erik Lindahl, Professor of Biophysics, Stockholm University
- Marianna Yanez Arteta, Associate Director at the Advanced Drug Delivery division within Pharmaceutical Sciences in AstraZeneca
- Federica Sebastiani, Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Copenhagen University
- Chris Schlenk, Group Vice President, Wellspect Healthcare
- Pia Kinhult, Head of Host States Relations, ESS
- Oliver Billker, Director, the laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden
- Selma Maric, Director, ARI4Sweden
- Jon Sporring, Deputy Head, QIM Center
Watch the recording of the 2023 Summit here External link.
On September 21, 2023, the ESS/MAX IV Summit took place in Luleå. Northern Sweden is bustling with activity and new or transforming industries are now developing here. Many of the traditional industries, such as forestry, mining and steel production, are changing their production techniques to become more climate-neutral and are also trying to find new ways to use and reuse raw materials. New industries are establishing themselves and expanding their operations. All to help make The Green Deal a reality.
In what way can research infrastructure and knowledge at universities as well as MAX IV and ESS contribute to creating more sustainable products and processes for these industries? Who is taking the lead in the green revolution - the US or the EU? How does Sweden contribute to European self-sufficiency? Financing and expertise - is it an opportunity or a challenge?
This is what we talked about at the ESS/MAX IV Summit 2023, where we listened to the following people, among others:
- Pär Jonsén, Chief Technology Officer, LKAB Reemap
- Mikael Nordlander, Director Industry Decarbonization, Vattenfall
- Sara Mazur, Chair of the Board at WASP – Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program
- Martin Karlsson, University Relationship Manager, Northvolt
Watch the recording of the 2022 Summit here External link.
The ESS/MAX IV Summit 2022 was held on 24 November in Stockholm. Participants discussed how the effects of geopolitical changes in Europe are affecting the research ecosystem, ESS and MAX IV. And how to secure the future competence needed to solve the challenges and to fully benefit from the investments made in ESS and MAX IV.
Participants listened to inspiring speakers and panel discussions with, among others, the following people:
- Robert Feidenhans’l, Managing Director at European X-FEL
- Helmut Schober, Director-General ESS, Olof Karis, Director MAX IV Laboratory
- Arne Berge, Head of Communications at Aventure AB
- Tom Erixon, President and CEO of Alfa Laval
- Kristina Elg Christoffersson, CTO of Renewcell
- Olle Eriksson, co-director of Wallenberg Initiative Materials Science for Sustainability (WISE)
- Jenni Nordborg, national coordinator for life sciences
Watch the recording of the 2021 Summit here External link.
On October 14, ESS/MAX IV was held in Uppsala. The program included presentations by ESS and MAX IV, a discussion on the government's investigation into the organization, governance and financing of research infrastructure, the PRISMAS doctoral program, and a panel discussion on how different industries can benefit from research facilities.
The following people participated, among others:
- Ian McNulty, Director MAX IV Laboratory
- Andreas Schreyer, Director for Science European Spallation Source
- Gert Nilson, Jernkontoret & MetalBeams
- Tommy Nylander, Lunds universitet & Nordic Lights on Food
- Sandra Falck, SciLifeLab & InfraLife
- Daniel Söderberg, KTH & Treesearch
This seminar was not recorded
During the spring, the ESS/MAX IV Office, the Swedish Research Council and Vinnova established a joint national coordination body. On October 22, a webinar was held with interviews, panel discussions and presentations with people in strategically important positions. The discussions were about how the facilities can contribute to solving current and future societal challenges. And the business community - who can gain great benefit and competitive advantage from the facilities - how do we best meet their user needs?
The following attended:
- Darja Isaksson, Director General of Vinnova
- Sven Stafström, Director General of the Swedish Research Council
- Mikaela Rapp, Head of the ESS/MAX IV Office
- Anna Sandström, Science Relations Director, AstraZeneca
- Fredrik Hörstedt, Vice-Chancellor, Chalmers
- Ian McNulty, Director, MAX IV
- John Womersley, Director General, European Spallation Source
- Emil Högberg, State Secretary, Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation
- Sylvia Schwaag Serger, Pro-Rector, Lund University,
- Lotta Ljungqvist, CEO, Testa Center,
- Tobias Krantz, Special Investigator, Government Offices
- Magnus Wikström, Chairman, Treesearch, BillerudKorsnäs
Collaboration between MAX IV and the Department of Energy
MAX IV has an ongoing project to strengthen collaboration with the American synchrotron light sources. The project runs from 2024 to 2026 and is funded with just over 2.4 million SEK from the Swedish Research Council.
The focus is on researchers and technical personnel in Sweden and the USA to collaborate to develop methods and instrumentation that make it possible to take full advantage of the greatly improved possibilities to produce a high-intensity and coherent X-ray beam generated at fourth-generation synchrotrons. MAX IV, which was inaugurated in 2016, initiated the development of fourth-generation synchrotrons and now several new or upgraded facilities with similar performance are being commissioned around the world.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) operates several synchrotron light sources: NSLS-II at Brookhaven National Laboratory, SSRL at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, ALS at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and APS at Argonne National Laboratory. After an ambitious upgrade program, APS has successfully generated its first X-rays and joined the club of fourth-generation light sources. ALS is on track to achieve a similar upgrade by 2027.
The project provides the opportunity to identify and discuss potential collaborations, organize workshops and thematic meetings, develop action plans, and support travel for skills development and exchange from both parties. In principle, all user groups at MAX IV will benefit from the developments taking place within the project.
The project is also a continuation of a highly appreciated previous collaboration project that culminated in a workshop “Science Opportunities with Diffraction Limited Soft X-rays” held in April 2023, in Port Jefferson, New York. The workshop brought together 35 invited experts, nine of whom were from Sweden, and provided an ideal platform to discuss the capabilities of soft coherent X-rays.
The areas that are first in the new project are:
X-ray detectors - the X-ray radiation at a fourth-generation synchrotron light source offers completely new opportunities to develop techniques for investigating and imaging matter. However, the optimized detectors required for this are lacking in some cases, which limits researchers from fully exploiting these opportunities. This is especially the case with imaging detectors in the soft X-ray range. MAX IV has an ongoing collaboration with LBNL on a soft X-ray imaging detector that is currently being tested on a beamline at MAX IV. In the longer term, efforts are underway, particularly at BNL, to develop Low-Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGAD) that promise to deliver soft X-ray detectors with unmatched performance, which would also be of great interest to MAX IV.
Coherence Techniques - MAX IV together with NSLS-II plan to follow up the 2023 soft X-ray workshop by hosting a new workshop in the fall of 2025, to continue the collaboration and discussion on the possibilities of coherent soft X-rays. The new workshop is intended to focus primarily on OAM (Orbital Angular Momentum), a relatively unexplored but potentially very interesting property of coherent X-ray light and thus particularly interesting for long-term collaboration between the facilities.
Accelerator Techniques - The collaboration between the accelerator divisions at MAX IV and the DOE-funded facilities has always been extensive. Discussions are now taking place primarily between NSLS-II and MAX IV to develop advanced tools for the design, commissioning, and operation of low-emissivity storage rings. The exact collaborations that will be prioritized in this area have not yet been decided, but could include
- using AI for design and optimization,
- developing tools to automate deployment,
- neural networks to better predict trends and failures in accelerator operation.
In addition to these three areas, there are also excellent opportunities for fruitful knowledge exchange and development of practices in areas such as X-ray optics, as well as data analysis and visualization.
The Swedish Research Council finances feasibility studies for future instruments at ESS
One of the areas that the Swedish Research Council has identified as important for Sweden concerning ESS is opportunities for Swedish researchers to participate in a competitive proposal for new instruments.
In recent years, two initiatives, in particular, have excelled. One is SAGA, a GISANS instrument (grazing-incidence small-angle neutron scattering) for structural studies of surfaces, thin films and boundary layers. Such experiments are of interest to both industry and academia in characterising all kinds of complex systems such as food and biological materials. The second is HIBEAM (high-intensity baryon extraction and measurement), an instrument for subatomic physics for studies of the fundamental properties of the neutron, which will be used to look for new physics beyond the so-called standard model.
Following the results of the needs inventory 2020, the Council for Research Infrastructures (RFI) decided to handle the instrumentation at ESS in a particular order, i.e. outside RFI's ordinary application procedures that were deemed not appropriate. As a step in this handling, RFI decided before the summer of 2021 to set up a targeted call for feasibility studies for future instruments at ESS. The SAGA and HIBEAM collaborations were invited to apply.
The applications have been prepared during the autumn. At its council meeting on 27-28 October, RFI decided to finance the SAGA and HIBEAM collaborations with SEK 10 million each during 2021-2023 to carry out the instrument feasibility studies. The feasibility studies will result in competitive proposals that can be submitted to the ESS council when the time is right to appoint the instruments that will constitute the ESS's future instruments.
The SAGA project has recieved additional funding, 4 million SEK, for the period 2025-2026. We asked Tommy Nylander, PI at Lund University, about the project.
Find the website for the project here External link.
What does the grant mean for you and your group?
The SAGA project is to develop the concept for a world-leading neutron instrument for advanced studies of surface structures has opened up new opportunities to meet scientific challenges. For the research group, this mainly applies to soft materials and especially bio-surfaces. Measurements already made together with colleagues have received a boost in terms of interpretations and new ideas for future measurements. New international contacts have been initiated and will be developed. The knowledge of instrument development and the technology development required has been inspiring for everyone involved. Contacts with other subject areas have been particularly stimulating. The discussions with our sister project HIBEAM are very fruitful.
How far have you come?
We have established an international advisory group with experts in GISANS technology and who also have a wide network of contacts with potential users. Using this, we have prepared a preliminary concept for a dedicated GISANS instrument for ESS. We have created a strong national and international commitment for the idea, both within academia and industry. This has made it possible to define scientific challenges, both current and future. Developments are advancing rapidly in this field so the scientific plan must be updated regularly. The technical possibilities for Swedish industry have also begun to take shape.
What happens now, what is the next step?
In the first phase, we have created the driving force and networks to define both the scientific case and the possible technology development. Now we move on to further specify future scientific challenges and how these can be met by the instrument concept defined in the first phase of the project. This instrument concept will be matched against the scientific requirements and, if necessary, adjusted and further developed. We will investigate possible new technical solutions and how these can be developed and realized with the help of Swedish advanced technology. This work will take place in collaboration with HIBEAM. We will compile and submit a winning project application for a dedicated GISANS instrument at ESS. The first of its kind in the world.
What will SAGA mean for Swedish research?
Swedish research is among the international leaders in surface chemistry and surface physics. The project results in the area will be taking a significant step forward both in material science and life science. The degree of utilization of ESS by Swedish researchers will increase as we actively participate in instrument proposals. We will also strengthen technology development and give Swedish high-tech industry the opportunity to participate in the construction of ESS and similar international research facilities of the same caliber.
The HIBEAM project has recieved additional funding, 4 million SEK, for the period 2025-2026. We asked David Milstead, PI at Stockholm University, about the project.
Find the website for the project here External link.
What does the grant mean for you and your group?
The ESS opens a unique discovery window for new particle physics processes, the observation of which would be of Nobel prize winning-significance. The HIBEAM project can exploit this potential. The grant means that we can deepen our HIBEAM design, go beyond simulations with detector prototype tests, expand and quantify our physics program via collaborations with the theory community, and further develop the successful intra-Sweden and international collaboration.
How far have you come?
Several years ago, HIBEAM was an idea. Now we are at a stage between a conceptual and technical design. We have a beamline design for a HIBEAM instrument with background and shielding calculated. This has allowed to develop and quantify a core physics program that extends sensitivity by up to and beyond an order of magnitude for a range of topical phenomena that address open questions in modern physics, including the origin of the matter-antimatter symmetry and the nature of the mysterious dark matter of the Universe. The searches include neutron-antineutron or sterile neutron transitions and a pioneering search for axions via their couplings to neutrons. We have reached out to the wider particle physics community at conferences and seminars. We are an international collaboration that is continuing to grow. We have recently welcomed new collaborators from countries from both within and outside Europe. We are also engaging with Swedish industry. This has included Big Science-organised workshop on HIBEAM with participants from a range of industrial sectors.
What happens now, what is the next step?
As mentioned earlier, the next steps are a deepening of HIBEAM design, tests of prototype data, expansion of the physics program and collaboration and further establishment of HIBEAM in the international landscape of particle physics. We will also further develop our links with industry. The work will be described in a design report that includes costing.
What will HIBEAM mean for Swedish research?
There are fifteen approved instruments for the ESS. Swedish scientists do not play leading roles in them. Given Sweden’s status as a ESS host country, it is essential that there is Swedish leadership in a future instrument. At a technical level, HIBEAM is challenging in the development of detector technology, neutronics and magnetics. HIBEAM thus contributes to Sweden’s high-tech research base both at universities and in the industrial sector.
The future for synchrotron light user organizations is bright
The question of the current role of the user organizations and their ability to increase the value for Swedish researchers was central when representatives of the synchrotron light organizations met in October 2023. The conversation partly highlighted the lack of contact between these organizations and the users today, especially the researchers who have not yet discovered the benefits of to use MAX IV as a tool in their research. The discussion on MAX IV's role focused on the need for facilities such as MAX IV to act to facilitate communication between user organizations and researchers.
- For us at MAX IV, a broadened Swedish use of our radiation tubes is important, says Olof Karis, director at MAX IV. Sweden has invested in a world-leading research facility and the more researchers from academia and industry who use our techniques, the better. We look forward to a clearer connection between the user organizations and MAX IV, it is needed to increase communication with the researchers.
Several of the participants in the meeting believed that a national user organization should act as a channel to represent the needs of the user community vis-à-vis both facilities and funders.
Participants also discussed the lack of content on the FASM and SSUO websites. In order to increase commitment and clarity in the user organizations, a more explicit division of tasks between the organizations and clearer communication with the users was proposed. To optimize the flow of information, measures such as sending newsletters and using conferences and meetings to reach users were suggested. It was also discussed to use the DUO system for member recruitment and to create clear incentives for membership.
The discussion concluded that clearer structures and more active communication are needed to strengthen the user organizations and increase their influence. To increase awareness of the user organizations, a follow-up via e-mail was proposed to involve more participants and gather volunteers for board positions, mainly in SSUO. Interest in reviving the SSUO was discussed and there was clear support for doing so.
- We have done extensive and successful work to probe the interest in an expanded board in SSUO, says Derek Logan, chairman of SSUO's board. On January 15, 2024, at FASM's and SSUO's annual meeting at MAX IV's user meeting, a new board was elected with representation from Lund University, Stockholm University, Uppsala University and Linköping University, and now we look forward to restarting operations.
SNSS (Swedish Neutron Scattering Society) is also looking forward to a close collaboration with FASM and SSUO.
- MAX IV and ESS will offer unique opportunities for science in the coming years. A coherent strategy for neutron and synchrotron research and close cooperation between the user organizations will make it possible for Swedish society to make the best use of these unique infrastructures, says Max Wolff, chairman of SNSS.
Background
The Swedish Research Council, the Association for Users of Synchrotron Light at MAX IV (FASM) and The Swedish Synchroton Users Organization (SSUO) invited on 27 October 2023 to a digital roundtable discussion on how the Swedish organizations for users of synchrotron light facilities can be optimized. During the conversation, in which about 20 invited researchers from the country's universities participated, the future X-ray user organizations in Sweden and important questions regarding the user organizations' role, their current achievements and how MAX IV can cooperate with them to optimize the information flow and support Swedish researchers were discussed.
LoI for Swedish in-kind contribution to ESS 2021
The Council for Research Infrastructures (RFI) decided at its council meeting in September 2021 to add SEK 30 million per year during 2021-2025 for the initial operational phase at ESS and that the money preferably should be used for Swedish in-kind grants.
As possible in-kind for Sweden already in 2021, ESS and the Swedish Research Council have identified the ongoing accelerator testing activity at the FREIA laboratory External link. at Uppsala University as most suitable. The intention is now that the Swedish Research Council will finance this to a value of SEK 24 million.
To receive support from the In-Kind Reference Committee at ESS for this to be credited as an in-kind contribution for Sweden, the Swedish Research Council and ESS have signed a Letter of Intent describing the parties' shared intentions. The Swedish Research Council now hopes that the ESS Council, based on this document, will decide to credit Sweden with the first of its kind contribution to the ESS at the next meeting in December.
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