Dear users,

The 27th edition of the event was held from November 22nd to 24th, 2017, on the campus of the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), in Campinas, Brazil. The event was attended by 157 participants (124 Brazilian and 33 foreign). During the event, 112 scientific communications were presented, both orally (22) and in posters (90).

The meeting began with an overview of the Laboratory facilities by the LNLS Director, Antonio José Roque da Silva, who gave participants the opportunity to get a closer look at the future plans for LNLS, in particular the ongoing construction of the new synchrotron light source Sirius. Sessions throughout the meeting discussed the projects for the Sirius beamlines and for the IT infrastructure, including the control, acquisition and processing of data in the experimental stations of the new source.

One of the invited speakers, Dr. Tobias Schulli (from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility – ESRF, France) discussed the prospects for new experimental techniques with the combination of X-ray diffraction and imaging. Dr. Rainer Hillenbrand (from the Nanoscience Cooperative Research Center – CIC nanoGUNE, Spain) spoke about infrared nanospectroscopy and nano-imaging as emerging analytical tools for science and technology.

At the end of the first day, participants had the opportunity to visit the construction site of the Sirius building, which is already over 70% completion. The program of the meeting also counted with four sessions of Oral Communication and two sessions of Posters, chosen among the contributions sent by the users.

During the closing session, a panel discussion organized by the Committee opened the possibility for the community of users to express their wishes and give their opinions on the status of LNLS and the plans for the future.

A questionnaire was sent to participants immediately after the conclusion of the 27th RAU. According to the spontaneous responses of 52 participants, 88.5% of them considered “Excellent” or “Good” the level of topics covered by the RAU program. When asked about the general program of the event, 43.1% considered “Excellent” the selection of topics and the diversity of fields covered, while 45.1% considered it “Good” and 9.8% considered it “Average”. The participants were also asked about the support received during the event: 86.5% consider it “Excellent”, while 13.5% classify it as “Good”.

The 27th RAU was able to attract many users and researchers, as well as leading scientists to lecture. The meeting has met the objective of encouraging debates, exchanging experiences and integrating the LNLS user’s community.

The generous support from the funding agencies – FAPESP, CAPES, and CNPq – to the 27th RAU was essential to the success of the meeting.

José Roque da Silva, Director of the LNLS
Eduardo Granado, Chair of the Scientific Committee
Hélio Tolentino, on behalf of the Local Committee

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