- The Irish synchrotron user community is diverse with academic research groups ranging across most disciplines and across fields such as Physics, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Macromolecular Crystallography, Materials Science, Geology, Magnetism, Nanoscience, Semiconductor Manufacturing, Electronic Structure, Atomic Physics, Intense Light-Matter Interactions, Environmental Chemistry and Green Energy among others.
- There are 21 research groups across 6 institutions for a total community of about 100 researchers who are synchrotron facility or free electron laser facility users.
- The national representative organization for this community is the Irish Synchrotron, Free Electron Laser, Neutron and Muon Facility Users Organisation –. This is currently chaired by Cormac McGuinness and Amir Khan who alternate as Irish delegates to ESUO.
- The facilities used by the Irish community include most of the European light source facilities as well as many of the north American facilities. In Ireland there is no national funding scheme for access to these synchrotron radiation facilities, instead academic user groups must rely either on individual project funding through national or European funding agencies or funding through their institutions, or by direct support from facilities which in the past had occurred through EU FP7, FP6 and FP5 Integrating Activity projects that provided for trans-national access to such large scale infrastructure facilities.
ESUO REPRESENTATIVES
Trinity College Dublin
School of Biochemistry and Immunology
X-Ray Crystalography group
Dublin, Ireland
Cormac McGuinness
Trinity College Dublin
School of Physics
Surface, Interface Physics and X-ray Spectroscopy group
Dublin, Ireland
USER REPRESENTATION – ISUO
- The Irish Synchrotron, Free Electron Laser, Neutron and Muon Facility Users Organisation was formed in 2012 through consensual agreement among the Irish user community in order to liaise more effectively with the ESUO and influence Irish government input into EU policy decisions affecting the Irish and European synchrotron and neutron user communities.
- It represents the Irish SR, FEL and neutron facility user communities of more than 100 users.