Jahresbericht 2020 für

SGK/SSCr: Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Kristallographie

Präsident/Präsidentin: Prof. Dr. Antonia Neels

Von: Prof. Dr. Antonia Neels, antonia.neels@empa.ch

Zusammenfassung

2020 has been a special year with many online meetings and less direct contacts and exchanges; many national and international conferences have been canceled. However, we have been focusing on activities facilitated by online channels. The SSCr focusses on structural solid-state science, namely diffraction and scattering and in May 2020 we sent a questionnaire to our members with the aim of mapping the areas of interest of the members and tuning and adapting the activities of the SSCr to the current needs of the community. The feedback was positive and represented well our member community. The results are published on our website. We also polled people's awareness of the current discussions on the Swiss science roadmap for 2024 and beyond. We gathered input for driving the SSCr actions specifically related to the 'Swiss Roadmap for Photon Science' where Antonia Neels, the current president of the SSCr, was part of the working group with respect to the chapter 'Quo Vadis Synchrotron'.

While investigating a modernization and redesign of our website, we decided to incorporate our website within the new SCNAT portal. We are grateful for the support and dissemination of information from our society over the SCNAT channel to the science community.

In 2020, the annual meeting was reduced to the general assembly in an online event with lively discussions about: a) the Swiss roadmap activity related to large scale facilities in Switzerland and the integration of the needs of the crystallographic community, b) the SNBL operations and new user access arrangements for the period 2021-2024 and beyond. In addition to the reporting of the SSCr board about their activities and the annual financial statement, the results of the questionnaire have been presented to our members. The annual meeting is vital for the direct contact between the members. In 2021 it will be organized in Fribourg by Katharina Fromm, and in 2022 in Bern by Simon Grabowsky.

Although the ‘The Howard Flack Crystallographic Lecture Series' could not take place as usual in 2020, we commenced the organization of an online lecture series for 2021, which will highlight Swiss science related to crystallography through six invited talks from the 'Structural Biology' community. The 2020 Powder Diffraction School successfully took place 14-18 September at PSI in Villigen, albeit with less participants than usual because of the COVID-19 situation.

As we did not receive requests this year for travel grants, we will carry the funds over and offer more grants next year, particularly for attending the IUCr Congress, Prague in August 2021.

Publikationen

Two issues of the Society Newsletter were published in April and August 2020: No. 103 and No. 104

Tagungen / Kurse

The 2020 Powder Diffraction School (PSI in Villigen, 14-18 September 2020)
General Assembly of the Swiss Society for Crystallography (ZOOM online event, 9 September 2020)

Internationale Aktivitäten

The Swiss Society for Crystallography SSCr is an adhering body of the European Crystallographic Association (ECA) and our delegate attends the Council meeting of the ECA and some of our members attend the sessions of the special interest groups of this association during the European Crystallography Meetings (ECMs). In 2020, there were no Council meetings (canceled) and no ECM (takes place only two out of every three years).
The Swiss Society for Crystallography SSCr is also an adhering body of the International Union of Crystallography, IUCr. A number of Swiss crystallographers are active members in IUCr Commissions. The Swiss Society of Crystallography, through its Section for Crystal Growth and Technology, is member of the International Organization for Crystal Growth (IOCG) and has a delegate at the IOCG Council.
The new partnership with the German Association of crystal Growth (DGKK) continues to grow, as shown by the official welcome address that the SGK/SSCr has published for the 50^th jubilee of the DGKK in 2019. (https://doi.org/10.1002/crat.201900137)

Forschungsunterstützende Informations- und Koordinationsaufgaben

Two issues of the Society Newsletter were published in April and August 2020: No. 103 and No. 104

Früherkennung

In May 2020, a questionnaire was sent to our members with the aim of mapping the areas of interest of the members and tuning and adapting the activities of the SSCr to the current needs of the community. The results are published on our website. We also polled people's awareness of the current discussions on the Swiss science roadmap for 2024 and beyond. We gathered input for driving the SSCr actions specifically related to the 'Swiss Roadmap for Photon Science' where Antonia Neels, the current president of the SSCr, was part of the working group with respect to the the chapter 'Quo Vadis Synchrotron'.

Dialog mit der Gesellschaft

Numerous members of the SSCr supported the establishment of the 'Swiss Roadmap for Photon Science' with their input. The current president of the SSCr, was part of the working group with respect to the chapter 'Quo Vadis Synchrotron'.