SOLEIL hosted the 25th HERCULES school (Higher European Research Course for users of Large Experimental Systems) from 16th to 20th March, European training under the auspices of the Joseph Fourier University and INP, the Grenoble Institute of Technology. Let's come back on this major event in the lives of young scientists.
After 3 weeks in Grenoble, fifty PhD students, postdocs and young researchers from all over Europe attended classes and carried out practical work at SOLEIL and the Léon Brillouin Laboratory on light/matter interactions and on synchrotron and neutron techniques.
The 2015 school was a real success: 70 young researchers were selected from the 140 to 150 who applied to participate in the only European school of this size on opportunities related to large facilities (synchrotron and neutron sources).
At SOLEIL, the event was coordinated by Alessandro Coati (Head of the SIXS beamline) and Sandrine Schlutig (scientist on the MARS beamline), who celebrated her first participation as an organizer. Here is their feedback on this major event in the lives of young scientists.
What was this school’s goal?
The school was founded 25 years ago, and from the beginning the idea was to create a scientific community around the science proposed by these large instruments. This spirit continues today, and promotions are welded beyond the scientific context.
Moreover, we were both HERCULES students a few years ago, which has probably been the case for all the organizers! Even today, we are in contact with other participants, resulting in successful collaborations.
Of course, the success lies mainly in the quality of the courses offered. The speakers are often world leaders in their respective fields.
What was the program for the week?
First, we had to take into account the different levels of the participants (PhD students, postdocs and researchers). Participants also came from two communities: one focused on physical chemistry and materials, the other based on biology and the life sciences. Everyone followed the basic courses and then they could opt for specific tutorials and lab work. The originality lies in the flexibility of the system: everyone could choose their courses, tutorials and practical work according to their needs. For some, it was a wish to improve their expertise around a particular technique and for others the aim was to learn new techniques.
This year we innovated with two new courses in addition to those provided for several years now: a course on synchrotron radiation and ancient materials, given by Sebastian Schoeder (Head of the PUMA beamline), and a second given by Claire Laulhé (scientist on the CRISTAL beamline) dealing with temporal resolution and slicing.
More than a dozen beamlines were involved in the practical work and we would like to thank all our colleagues involved. Without forgetting the Users office team who organized this week extremely well and without whom the event would not have been such a great success.
What will you remember from this year’s training?
This training, the only one of its kind provided in Europe, allows young scientists to discover the techniques related to synchrotrons and reactors, but also allows scientists at SOLEIL to transmit their knowledge to future users or even waken the desire in others to work on synchrotrons. It is a form of apprenticeship. The Class of 2015 turned out to be extremely keen and good fun. Who knows, maybe some of them will be organizing the 2025 school?