The 22nd ESUO General Assembly took place on the 1st and 2nd December at BESSY II / Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. A significant part of the proceedings was the election 🗳️ of the new Executive Board as required, some four years after the previous election in October 2021. After consideration of proposed amendments to the ESUO Statutes, which were accepted by the National User Delegates of the General Assembly physically present and online, the election to the Executive Board proceeded.
The results of the election on the 1st December are that incoming board members who will be serving on the Executive Board for the next four years are Carla Bittencourt (Belgium 🇧🇪), Tom Hase (UK 🇬🇧), Maria Katsikini (Greece 🇬🇷), Rainer T. Lechner (Austria 🇦🇹), Guillaume Morard (France 🇫🇷), Bridget Murphy (Germany 🇩🇪), Louis Renault (France 🇫🇷), Ana Silva, PhD (Portugal 🇵🇹) and Moniek Tromp🟥 (Netherlands 🇳🇱). Congratulations to all! 👏🥳👏👏👏 They will be joining the continuing ESUO President Cormac McGuinness (Ireland 🇮🇪) in steering ESUO.
Pictured standing from left to right: Maria Katsikini, Louis Renault, Cormac McGuinness, Bridget Murphy, Carla Bittencourt, Rainer Lechner, Tom Hase. On screen: Guillaume Morard, Ana Silva and Moniek Tromp.
On the first day the ESUO National User Delegates were welcomed by the Facility Speaker of BESSY II Antje Vollmer and joined by scientists from the Country of Honour 2025 – Niger attending the17th BESSY@HZB User Meeting. A presentation on BESSY II+ and BESSY III were given by Antje Vollmer and Prof. Dr. Andreas Jankowiak respectively. This was then followed by an update on the statues and structures of ESUO and the agenda for the meeting. The group photo below was then taken.
There then followed intense discussions over the next day and a half regarding NEPHEWS, and other matters concerning user access, European and national policies, research and synchrotron and FEL use at the European synchrotron and FEL facilities, and the status of the national user communities represented by their delegates. A more detailed report on the ESUO General Assembly will follow.
Best wishes to all involved, and to the new board of ESUO! 👏👏👏