The first BornAgain School and User Meeting, organized by the MLZ Scientific Computing Group, will take place on 21-22 November 2016 at Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Zentrum Garching, Germany.
BornAgain (http://bornagainproject.org) is a novel software package to simulate and fit small-angle neutron and x-ray scattering at grazing incidence. It provides a generic framework for modeling multilayer samples with smooth or rough interfaces and with various types of embedded nanoparticles.
This School will introduce students, instrument scientists, and both novice and experienced researchers working in the field of GISAS or reflectometry at large to new opportunities for simulating and fitting their data. In compact introductory lectures, we will outline the theory implemented in BornAgain, and explain the design of the software. Extensive hands-on tutorials will highlight practical aspects of GISAS simulation.
Registration is available at https://webapps.frm2.tum.de/indico/event/34/
At the User Meeting, users of BornAgain are kindly invited to share their experiences, to present first results, but also to report on difficulties, to suggest improvements and to request missing features. This feedback offers a unique opportunity to influence the further development of BornAgain.
For convenience of colleagues from overseas, this event is scheduled as a satellite of the GISAXS2016 workshop (https://indico.desy.de/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=14264), which takes place on November 16-18 in Hamburg.

We are pleased to announce that the second annual “Modern Methods in Rietveld Refinement for Structural Analysis” school will be held from August 8-11, 2016, at Stony Brook University (New York, USA) in close partnership with Brookhaven National Laboratory and Bruker-AXS.  There will be a special emphasis on the new XPD beamline at the NSLS-II synchrotron, with one day of new exercises and lectures dedicated to the collection and analysis of synchrotron diffraction data using 2D area detectors.  The primary goal of this school is to teach participants Rietveld refinement and other methods for evaluating crystal structures from powder diffraction data with an emphasis on data collected on national user facility beamlines such as the 11-BM synchrotron beamline at the APS at Argonne National Laboratory, the POWGEN and NOMAD time-of-flight neutron diffraction beamlines at the SNS of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the XPD beamline at the NSLS-II synchrotron at BNL.  The combination of advances in instrumentation and advances in software algorithms now allow many challenging structural problems to be resolved solely from powder diffraction data, and an up-to-date instruction in modern methods will be provided.  This course will emphasize traditional non-molecular solid state compounds, and will use the TOPAS software as the platform for Rietveld refinement (complementary trial license will be provided to participants).   Confirmed 2016 instructors include Prof. Peter Khalifah (SBU), Prof. John Parise (SBU), Prof. Cora Lind  (U. Toledo), Prof. Tyrel McQueen (Johns Hopkins University), Dr. Eric Dooryhee (BNL, XPD) Dr. Saul Lapidus (ANL, 11-BM), Dr. Wenqian Xu (ANL, 17-BM), and Dr. Christina Drathen (Bruker-AXS).  Further information about the course, including the application materials, are available through the website: https://sites.google.com/a/stonybrook.edu/mmrrsa-portal/.  There will be no registration fee associated with this course.  There are ongoing fundraising efforts to additionally support the lodging and meal expenses of most or all participants in this program, though all travel expenses will remain the responsibility of participants.  While this course is open to all applicants, priority will be given to Ph.D. students and post-doctoral researchers from North American institutions.  Completed applications should be received by June 15, 2016, although later applications may still be considered.

Ouverte à tous ceux qui souhaitent s'initier ou approfondir leurs connaissances en modélisation 3D, docking - criblage virtuel, dynamique fonctionnelle, mécanique quantique et visualisation 3D de molécules biologiques. L'école sera divisée en sessions théoriques et pratiques pour mieux appréhender toutes ces méthodologies. L'objectif est de repartir avec une maîtrise des différents outils logiciels disponibles dans ce domaine, qui sont le plus souvent, en libre accès pour la communauté scientifique.

Les grandes lignes du programme sont:
Analyse des séquences pour la modélisation 3D (bases de données Pfam, UniProt,...) Énergie libre, entropie et perturbation (FEP) Modélisation moléculaire par homologie et Ab initio (Modeller, Robetta,...) Conception de molécules pour le Drug Design (Chimiothèques, PubChem,...) Docking / Scoring et criblage virtuel de chimiothèques (AutoDock Vina,...) Simulations de dynamique moléculaire, QM/MM et modes normaux (Amber, Gromacs, NAMD,...) Visualisation 3D et dynamique interactive (VMD, PyMol, Chimera, UnityMol,...)
Toutes les informations disponibles sur le site: https://modyn.sciencesconf.org/
ATTENTION, le nombre de place est limité - Date limite de dépôt des candidatures: 30 juin 2016 Contact: modyn@sciencesconf.org

This summer school invites Master students and PhD students to join with their own thin film samples suitable for grazing incidence small angle x-ray scattering (GISAXS) and grazing incidence small angle neutron scattering (GISANS) measurements. The unique program will consist of lectures on experiment design and scattering theory, necessary to understand the method and to choose experimental parameters. The x-ray experiments will be carried out remotely at the ALS, Berkeley, USA, while the neutron experiments will take place at the FRM II on site. Furthermore there will be practical sessions with introduction to data analysis tools (HipGISAXS and BornAgain) and tutorials in applying them, where each student will work on their own data. Overall, this summer school will prepare students to carry out grazing incidence experiments at large scale facilities including the relevant data analysis.
Novel, smart thin film materials are the focus of many research projects ranging from sensing to displays and from wireless communication to energy conversion and energy storage. These are all active research fields where understanding of material properties will lead to innovation. Although the list of resulting applications is very wide, all these novel materials have something important in common: the physical properties, and therefore the industrial usefulness, is closely related to the molecular and nano-morphology of these materials.
Therefore, methods of characterizing such thin film materials are needed. Grazing incidence scattering techniques have proven here to be very successful. With this method the morphology inside thin films can be probed on the nanometer scale â€" not just on small micron spots â€" but on macroscopic areas of the sample, yielding industrially relevant information.
To aid students to carry out successful grazing incidence scattering measurements this summer school will kick-start beginners and introduce new data analysis tools for students with scattering experience.

The school takes place at the TUM Garching Campus and can be easily reached using public transport from Munich.(U6 Garching Forschungszentrum).

http://www.hg.mse.tum.de/en/gisas/Â

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Applications are invited from graduate students and early career scientists who wish to learn about the theory and applications of neutron scattering in materials research.

This year's course will empathise on inelastic neutron scattering to study the dynamics, and nanostructure determination by small angle neutron scattering and neutron reflectometry.

Data analysis will be a focus of the summer course, and tutors will be arranged to guide the students in learning, in addition to the lecturers.

The BCA/CCP4 Protein Crystallography Summer School is intended for students and researchers new to crystallography. Its dual aims are to provide comprehensive training in crystallography and to promote best practise within the British crystallographic community. The lectures cover the gamut of techniques required for a structure solution, from protein expression through to structure validation. Intensively supervised computer tutorials enable students to relate the theory presented in the lectures to practice. Although CCP5 programmes will primarily be used in these tutorials, the aim will be to approach crystallographic questions in a software-agnostic manner. There will also be a crystal manipulation and cooling workshop. (Note that the course is scheduled during Diamond synchrotron downtime, so there will not be active data collection at the Diamond beamlines.)

We recognise that an active social programme plays a role in enabling students to make links that may be maintained throughout a research career. There will be a conference dinner, and a number of other events, including a boat trip on the Thames from Oxford.

Diamond is delighted to announce it is to run a fifth synchrotron radiation school from the 19th to the 23rd September 2016.Â

It will run on very similar lines to the very successful SR Schools in 2014, 2012 and 2010 with the aim being to provide postgraduate students and post-doctoral researchers, who have little experience of SR, a broad-based introduction to many of the different types of experiments conducted using SR. It is largely aimed at physical scientists, but life scientists are welcome to apply.Â
The school gives attendees the opportunity to obtain hands-on practical experience of performing an experiment on several of the Diamond beamlines. At least 14 beamlines will be participating in the school.
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The school will be co-located at Diamond and Jesus College, Oxford, with participants staying in Oxford.
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The format of the school will be 2 days of lectures on SR methods, 2 days of experiments on the Diamond beamlines and on the final day there will be a symposium with 5 leading synchrotron practitioners talking about some of their research.
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The course is always over-subscribed, thus all registrants are required to complete an application form. Â
Priority will be given to those people in the earliest stage of their research career and who have definite plans to use Diamond.Â
The strength of the application and the statement from the applicant's referee are crucial to Diamond in selecting attendees for the course.Â
Given the expected over-subscription, registrants are expected to attend the entire course, thus if you apply please ensure you are available for the whole week.
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Applications for the course will close on 25th May 2016. It is expected that applicants will be notified if they have obtained a place within 2 weeks of that date.
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The SR School is free to attend and all accommodation and meals are provided free for the duration of the course. Students will need to fund their own travel and transport to the course.
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The school will take place July 30-August 13, 2016. The school will start at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN and will continue at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL after roughly one week. Students will be housed and transportation will be provided from lodging to the school. Lodging accommodations will be available starting July 30, 2016. Lectures and hands-on experiments will be held during normal working hours, but some experiments will be conducted during evening sessions. Social events will be arranged for participants.

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 Program

The program of the school focuses on the following areas:

• The fundamentals of the interaction of X-rays and neutrons with matter
• X-ray and neutron production and experimental instrumentation
• Theory and practical application of various X-ray and neutron experimental techniques
• Hands on experience gained through experiments at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) and High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR).

Lectures are given by prominent scientists drawn from universities, several national laboratories, and industry. Subjects for lectures include:

• Interactions of X-rays and Neutrons with Matter
• Neutron Generation and Detection
• Neutron Instrumentation
• X-ray Generation and Detection
• X-ray Instrumentation
• Single-Crystal and Surface Diffraction
• Powder Diffraction
• Inelastic Scattering
• Reflectivity
• Magnetic Scattering
• EXAFS
• Small Angle Scattering
• Diffuse Scattering
• Nuclear Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering
• Coherent X-ray Scattering
• Amorphous Scattering

Experiments are led by the staff of the beamlines at the APS and the staff of SNS and HFIR. Students will be divided into groups and will do six experiments. Experimental areas include:

• Powder Diffraction
• Small Angle Scattering
• Reflectivity
• Inelastic Scattering
• Quasi-elastic neutron scattering
• Liquids and Amorphous Scattering
• Stress/Strain/Texture
• EXAFS
• Single Crystal Diffraction
• Magnetic Dichroism
• Coherent X-ray Scattering
• X-ray Microprobe

Topics

• Overall perspectives of research with the FEL and X-FEL facilities
• Design of experiments with FEL sources
• Imaging by coherent diffraction in Transmission Electron Microscopy
• Phasing and information retrieval in CDI
• Single-shot imaging of nano-objects with X-FEL
• Molecular Movies in biology using an X-FEL
• X-ray interaction with matter at the nanoscale
• The strong excitation density regime in time-dependent density-functional theory
• Modelling extreme spectroscopy and scattering
• Sample strategies for single particles (clusters, viruses) and for solids
• Acceleration technologies that work â€" towards CW-FEL
• Seeding and seeding-like properties of X-ray FELs / Quantum FEL
• Challenges in detection
• Key parameters of sources, detectors, and data handling in present and future FEL experiments

The School/Workshop will be organized in order to have introductory lectures on basic FEL topics in the morning sessions and invited and contributed talks on advanced FEL physics in the afternoon sessions. A poster session will be also organized.
 The list of addressed topics is as following:

• Generation of ultra-cold electron beams
• Quantum aspects of beam physics
• Quantum and classical FEL theory
• Collective effects in Bose-Einstein condensate
• Transverse and longitudal FEL coherence
• Compact Undulators (Magnetic, Optical and RF)
• Advanced gamma-rays Compton and FEL sources

FPSchool aims to contribute to the training of scientists in treatment of X-ray and neutron diffraction data.

The school is based on intensive hands-on sessions using the computer programs of the FullProf Suite.

DESIGNING AND BUILDING A NEUTRON INSTRUMENT Â Â

Topics

• Origin of neutron sources,
  
• Prospects for future neutron facilities
• Neutron moderators
• Neutron shielding
• Instrument engineering
• Sample environment
• Neutron detectors
• Small-angle neutron scattering instrument
• Monochromatic powder diffractometer
• Time-of-flight powder diffractometer
• High-resolution backscattering spectrometer
• Chopper spectrometer
• Instrumentation for Deep Inelastic Neutron Scattering
• Spin-echo spectrometer
• Neutron energy selection
• Imaging instrument
• The Chinese Spallation Neutron Source
• Compact accelerator-driven neutron sources

The 5^th SAXS school will be held in May 2016 at the Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncrotron and is intended to motivated post-graduate students and early career scientists willing to learn Small-Angle X-ray Scattering. The main objective of the school is to provide an opportunity for young scientists developing their research in areas related to Biology, Physical Sciences, Materials Science and Chemistry, to have a contact with the technique, acquiring both theoretical and experimental skills.

The course will offer an overview of SAXS theory, data reduction and analysis tools, as well as modelling techniques. It will include hands-on experiments at the LNLS SAXS facilities and tutorials.

The last day of the school will be dedicated to the new SAXS beamline, CATERETÊ @ SIRIUS, the 4^th generation synchrotron in construction in Campinas), and the new techniques proposed such as coherent SAXS and coherent imaging techniques.

In research and development of solar cells, the issue of microstructure and its impact on the device performance is often regarded inadequately, mostly because of insufficient knowledge about analysis and simulation methods. Apart of the microstructural properties of completed thin films in semiconductor devices, it is also of concern how the microstructure develops during growth.The school aims at giving insight into various techniques for microstructural analysis as well as simulation methods of the growth of crystalline materials, apart from a session on electrical materials and device characterization. Each session will comprise a keynote lecture of an expert in the corresponding field, followed by a 2-3 hours hands-on tutorial, giving the participants the possibility to get deeper into the topic, with the help of a specific question to be solved in teamwork practices. Two poster sessions are also planned as evening events, which intensify the discussions and scientific exchange between experts and participants.

The ESRF/ILL International Student Summer Programme on X-Ray and Neutron Science is aimed at undergraduate students. It will consist in a 4-week experimental project embedded in a research group of ESRF or ILL, together with a series of introductory lectures on the principles and applications of X-ray and neutron science (magnetism, materials science, soft matter, structural biology, imaging, etc.).

Neutron scattering applications to hydrogen storage materials

Energy research is an important scientific area today and hydrogen is one of the most promising sources of energy due to its highest energy density by weight. The efficient hydrogen storage depends on development of the new materials. Neutron scattering and -diffraction are powerful, non-destructive tool for the analysis of structure and dynamics in matter in a broad space and time domain.

High sensitivity to hydrogen makes neutron scattering techniques ideally suitable to study the process in hydrogen storage systems. The goal of this school is to introduce participants to basics of neutron scattering techniques and show how these techniques can be applied for exploration of hydrogen storage materials.The lectures and practical exercises will give basics to:Â Â Â

• Hydrogen economy and hydrogen storage technologies  Â
• Fundamentals of the gas storage Â
• Basics of neutron scattering and in particular in situ neutron diffraction  Â
• Characterizing sorption behavior of porous materials by ab initio and crystal structure refinements