LINXS inaugural conference gathers hundreds of people to mark its new chapter in The Loop in Science Village

LINXS marked the beginning of its new chapter in Science Village with a packed two-day programme featuring interdisciplinary science sessions and interactive events. The conference showcased recent and innovative research over a broad range of fundamental and applied science in Hard Condensed Matter, Life Sciences, and Soft Matter. It also highlighted the major contribution of large facilities (such as MAX IV and ESS) to the local, national, and international science base as well as in terms of societal impact. The programme included presentations from Anne L’Huillier (Nobel Laureate 2023) and from key representatives of the LINXS Thematic portfolio.

– The turnout was great, with a packed auditorium. The talks were excellent, and the speakers had all taken the time to make their presentations easily accessible to the broad audience. This was no mean feat, given that the topics ranged from attosecond science and quantum materials, through the remarkable science of water to soft matter, clinically-linked imaging research and molecular research relating to neurodegenerative diseases, says Professor Trevor Forsyth, LINXS Director.

– The atmosphere was buzzing during the breaks with lots of discussion and interaction amongst the participants.

The conference featured two days of science, discussions and interactive events, gathering more than 200 people from academy, industry and other organisations. Photo: Hilde Skar Olsen.

The programme also featured welcome addresses from Tom Erixon (CEO of Alfa Laval and Deputy Chair of the Lund University Board), Stig Svensson (Deputy Mayor of Lund), Yan Pautrat (Attaché for scientific and academic cooperation at the French Embassy), Augusto Marcelli (Scientific Attaché at the Italian Embassy in Sweden) and Christian Lindfors (CEO of Science Village Scandinavia).

Trevor Forsyth continues:

– Rather strikingly, the results presented by Martin Stankovski and Franz Hennies from Lund University showed evidence-based data that illustrated the very high impact that large-scale facilities have on scientific quality. LINXS is now ideally placed to help researchers make the most of this remarkable environment and in doing so contribute to the science and regional development that will continue for decades to come.

– Key immediate priorities at LINXS are on the development of young researchers initiatives, facilitating data interpretation, analysis and throughput, as well as on improving the national and international collaborative base. The announcement of the award to LINXS from the Crafoord Foundation at the meeting was very pleasing. This one-off investment will be an extremely important boost for specific initiatives related to the LINXS move to Science Village.

LINXS Vice-Director, Professor Anna Stradner, was also very happy with the event:

– It was so gratifying to see such a large and diverse crowd actively participating at the conference, which is highly motivating for continuing our efforts to make LINXS a nucleus for the scientific life between MAX IV and ESS, and providing a temporary scientific home where old and new users can mingle with beamline scientists.

– We hope to see lots of scientific activities in our new premises to assist the user community in growing and extending to new areas of science and technology.

Some of the participants pictured as they are trying out activities in the interactive session during day two of the conference. The bottom left photograph is of Professor Trevor Forsyth, LINXS Director. Photos: Hilde Skar Olsen.

LINXS Young Researcher Initiatives and the Infravis node entice curiosity and interest

During the conference, the LINXS Young Researcher Initiatives (YRI) were also presented through a stand in the atrium. The initiatives aim to support the creation of networks and knowledge sharing amongst young career researchers using X-rays and neutrons. Daniel Sarabi, postdoctoral researcher at LINXS has been a driving force in this effort.

– We utilised visual and interactive tools at our stand to entice visitors, and we had many interactions with the participants at the conference, ranging from young researchers to senior researchers, says Daniel Sarabi.

– There is a clear interest in joining our initiative to help carry our mission forward to create a platform where post-docs, PhDs, and graduate students meet, learn new science and create new science project together.

The InfraVis node from Lund University, and RheoMAXESS theme leader, Roland Kádár from Chalmers University, also arranged interactive demo sessions to attract the curiosity of the participants. The sessions allowed participants to virtually visit the MAX IV beamline ForMAX – both in Augmented Reality (AR), which was demonstrated on a big live screen in the atrium in the Loop, and in Virtual Reality (VR). Participants were also able to explore sample datasets of both proteins and microfossils in both AR and in VR.

Some of the participants trying the virtual tour of ForMAX hosted by Infravis node at Lund University. Photos: Hilde Skar Olsen.

Overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants

Lise Arleth is Professor of experimental biophysics at the the Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University, and former Chair of the LINXS Scientific Advisory Board.

– It is fantastic that we can now celebrate that we have had LINXS for close to ten years, and that LINXS is now in Science Village. I can still remember when it was only mud here.

Lise Arleth presenting during the conference on the second day, 18th June. Photo: Hilde Skar Olsen.

 – The next step for LINXS is to continue the great work to establish a scientific community within the area. Soon there will also be neutrons at ESS, which makes LINXS location even more strategic in terms of supporting researchers.

Kim Lefmann is Professor in Condensed Matter Physics at the Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University.

– It is extremely clear that people were here for the collaboration! This is something different than usual conferences where people tend to speak to researchers they already know.

Kim Lefmann is also responsible for the PhD school within the Nordic Neutron Science Programme (NNSP), in collaboration with the Swedish Neutron Education for Science & Society (SwedNess).

He says that LINXS work is already benefiting the larger neutron community, as the theme model at LINXS is very conducive to a collaborative and productive environment. He himself is part of the theme Qmat: Quantum materials: Linking theory and experiments at LINXS, ESS and MAX IV, and through this collaboration he has already gathered many ideas for how to develop experimental projects and novel instrumentation at ESS.

– LINXS has been successful in creating a collaborative atmosphere that are now spilling over to other arenas. I have started to see quite a big change within the ecosystem developed around the large-scale facilities: people are more open to share thoughts and ideas, not just results.

Wojtek Potrzebowski, Data Science Coordinator at SciLifeLab, Lund, was also impressed with conference:

– It is impressive that LINXS managed to get so many people here! The energy has been great, as has the interaction and networking! For me the networking is the most important aspects: to find out what people are up to!

Eskil Andreasson is a technology specialist at Tetra Pak, and a member of the AIDA theme at LINXS.

– As always, the most important thing for me is the networking. Through the event, I already have some new collaborations around beamtime lined up! It was also amazing to get to listen to world-leading researchers such as Anne L'Huillier: researchers whom I have not heard in person before.

Isaline Demange is postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Geology at Lund University. She says that the organisation of the conference was great, and that she especially appreciated the diversity of the talks throughout the two days.

– I appreciated to hear about the many different X-ray and neutron techniques, even if I didn’t understand all the presentations. It was especially useful as I will use the beamline SoftiMAX at MAX IV in autumn. I learnt a lot about the imaging technique X-ray Ptychography which I will use to map silica in green algae.