Organised by LEAPS on the challenges for synchrotrons and FELs to restore effective operations during the CoViD-19 pandemic
15 June 2020, 13:30–15:30 CEST
Research Infrastructures such as synchrotrons and Free Electron Lasers (FELs) play a crucial role in enabling some of the most significant fundamental scientific and societal challenges of our time to be tackled, and none more so challenging just now than mounting an effective and enduring response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While much human activity stopped as COVID-19 swept across the world, many facilities developed ways to continue to run to support critical research on the Coronavirus, and have provided critical new insights into the structure and function of the virus, and ways to inhibit infection pathways.
The operations of synchrotrons and FELs will have to adapt to the constraints of working in a post-COVID-19 world for some time to come. LEAPS organises a webinar to explore some of the challenges of restoring the fullest possible level of operations for its tens of thousands of users in universities and industry. It will focus on three areas: minimising risks to the safety of staff and users; development of a wider range of services for remote users; effective engagement with a user community that may be less free to travel for some considerable time to come.
You are cordially invited to join this webinar. The first part is a plenary session in which representatives of facilities share their experiences or plans for safer operations, remote access and user engagement. After that follows three break-out sessions, one for each area in which there will be a more detailed panel discussion. The conclusions of each of these sessions will be reported at a closing plenary session. Please note: the webinar has a limit of 450 participants, accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Zoom link to the webinar will be published on LEAPS website one hour before the meeting start: https://leaps-initiative.eu/events/
Program of the webinar (13:30–15:30 CEST)
- 13:30 CEST – Introduction and panel discussion
- 14:00 CEST – Break-out sessions
- Safety and wellbeing
- Remote access
- User engagement
- 14:45 CEST – Conclusions and discussion
You are encouraged to submit in advance your questions for any of the break-out sessions by sending an e-mail by 11 June to info@leaps-initiative.eu. There will also be an opportunity to submit questions during the break-out sessions themselves for consideration by the facilitator.