16th Annual Meeting of Finnish Synchrotron Radiation Users’ Organisation (FSRUO) – “Synchrotron Light Finland 2025”
Date & Place: 27–28 November 2025, Kumpula campus, University of Helsinki
On 27–28 November 2025 the 16th annual meeting of FSRUO was held in-person at the University of Helsinki’s Kumpula campus. Among a diverse audience of expert and prospective users of synchrotron, free-electron-laser (FEL) and neutron radiation techniques, a key highlight was the presentation by Piotr Piwowarczyk from SOLARIS National Synchrotron Radiation Centre / Jagiellonian University (Poland), devoted to the project NEPHEWS.
The meeting was also attended by Prof. Cormac McGuinness, President of the European Synchrotron and Free Electron Laser User Organisation, an organisation that is part of the NEPHEWS project consortium and plays an important role in its implementation.
During the meeting, Piotr Piwowarczyk introduced NEPHEWS – a major collaborative initiative funded under Horizon Europe – to the FSRUO community.
Main aims of NEPHEWS
- NEPHEWS stands for Neutrons and Photons Elevating Worldwide Science. Its core mission is to integrate access to advanced European photon (synchrotron, FEL) and neutron research infrastructures and to make them more broadly available.
- The project brings together two major European user-organisations — European Synchrotron and Free Electron Laser User Organization (ESUO) and European Neutron Scattering Association (ENSA) — and the large consortia of research infrastructures: LEAPS (photon sources) and LENS (neutron sources).
- NEPHEWS is designed as a user-driven, bottom-up initiative — meaning that it is built around the needs of scientific users. This is a novel model in European RI coordination.
Key components of NEPHEWS highlighted
- Transnational Access (TNA): The project offers funded access to a broad set of state-of-the-art infrastructures across Europe — synchrotron, FEL and neutron facilities.
- Twinning Programme: For new or less experienced users, NEPHEWS provides a “twinning” system: a novice user can join an experienced user group during an experiment to learn hands-on, with travel & accomodation covered by the project.
- Support for Early-Stage Researchers (ESR): NEPHEWS offers internships, trainings, working visits for early-career scientists (before or just after PhD), giving practical exposure to advanced RI tools.
NEPHEWS’ ambition & added value
- NEPHEWS aims to break down geographical or institutional barriers: to enable access “irrespective of location,” giving equal opportunity to researchers from scientifically less active countries or those without their own large-scale RI.
- The project represents a new paradigm in European photon/neutron science: a coordinated, pan-European, user-community-driven infrastructure ecosystem. NEPHEWS combines the strengths of many facilities and user organisations under one umbrella.
Piotr Piwowarczyk’s presentation thus served as an important dissemination moment – introducing NEPHEWS to the Finnish synchrotron / FEL / neutron-community gathered at FSRUO, and highlighting the opportunities for collaboration, access and training.
