Edith Hammer, member of the Environment and Climate theme, recently invited a group of new beamtime users to join her beamtime campaign at MAX IV. The aim was to inspire and teach researchers how to run an experiment, prepare samples and analyse data.

A woman, Edith Hammer, in front of an instrument. Photo. — Edith Hammer is a senior lecturer at the Department of Biology at Lund University.

– Getting hands on experience is the best way to learn how to do research with X-ray and neutron techniques, especially if you, like me, come from a field where you are not commonly exposed to these methods, says Edith Hammer, senior lecturer at the Department of Biology at Lund University.

She adds:

– When I first started doing research at synchrotrons, I found it very difficult since I was a seldom user. I also had complex inhomogeneous samples, resulting in complicated data sets which required a lot of preparation. The different data programmes, often built by instrument scientists, also posed a challenge.

Inspiration based on beamtime campaign in Canada

She got inspired to take this approach to teach and encourage new users, after being invited to work at researcher Martin Obst’s beamtime campaign in Canada. Edith Hammer had met him at a user meeting and struck up contact. Environment and Climate theme member Milda Pucetaite also joined the campaign.

A woman, Milda Pucetaite. Photo. — Milda Pucetaite is a researcher at the Department of Biology at Lund University.

– It was great to be part of his team and to get first-hand experience of his process and workflow. We were able to contribute to the experiment as it was ongoing, and we learnt so much in such a short time, for example: changing samples in the vacuum chamber, tuning the end station, and many details in the data analysis, says Milda Pucetaite, researcher at the Department of Biology at Lund University.

– We came prepared to help out with Martin's project and not primarily to get some time to work on our own samples, but were lucky and could do a lot of measurements ourselves as well, says Edith Hammer.

Many benefits for new and experienced users

Edith and Milda came away eager to try a similar set up in Sweden. The benefits are many, they say.

– Often you need to be at the beamline 24/7 to make sure nothing goes wrong with your sample or the instrument for your measurements. Having more people around can ease the pressure of changing samples and monitoring the experiment. It is also great not being alone in the middle of the night, but to keep each other awake and attentive, says Edith Hammer.

– Conversely, the people who are joining for the first time can see how things are done, and learn both practical and analytical aspects of how to prepare samples and analyse the data. To have everyone mainly working on the experienced users’ samples, is a win-win for all, she adds.

She and Milda would like to see this approach spread among other research groups outside the theme. Shared learning and knowledge they see as key to build new user communities. Data analysis is especially difficult without prior experience.

– As we mature as a user group within the environmental sciences, we need to train and help people to make sense of their data. Having people join beamtime is one such approach, says Milda Pucetaite.