SGK/SSCr: Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Kristallographie
In 2023 the Swiss Society for Crystallography (SSCr) launched a number of new initiatives aiming at improving education and access to hands-on experiences for young members and students of, mainly, Swiss institutions.
The most relevant of these, as it will be taking place in Switzerland on an annual basis from now on, is the creation of a topical workshop aimed at specific (and changing) needs of the student community. These workshops will be organized on the day prior to our annual meeting, and, if possible, at the same venue. A dedicated discussion round was organized during our 2022 meeting, with the aim of defining topics, in dialogue with invited students, for the first years. The inaugural workshop was held on September 7th, 2023, at ETHZ, prior to our annual meeting at UZH. We received 67 registrations for an initial limit of 15 places, so we had to extend it significantly. The numbers thus speak for themselves, proving that we have identified a gap in regular university curricula that concerns advanced techniques using X-ray scattering. In 2023, the chosen topic was Small Angle X-ray Scattering. The 2nd edition, in 2024, will be on Pair Distribution Function Analysis and local order, again in September, this time in Basel.
Along the same lines, at the 26th Congress of the International Union of Crystallography in Melbourne, August 2023, the SSCr organized a Satellite Workshop named “A practical approach to synchrotron experiments”, which was also booked out quickly. Feedback both from students as well as speakers have motivated us to invest efforts into hosting this workshop soon again, thanks to our well-established international network of colleagues and speakers.
A further main event, this time in Switzerland again, took place in the second week of November 2023. The Howard Flack Crystallographic Lecture Series had a highly successful 5th edition, with a total of six lectures given by the awarded Flack Lecturer Simon Billinge (Columbia University, New York), a leading authority behind broad developments relating to Total Scattering and the Pair Distribution Function, a method enjoying increasing popularity (and applicability) amongst materials scientists (in the broadest sense) working with nano-systems, amorphous solids, and liquids. Simon gave lectures at the EPFL Valais Wallis, the Universities of Bern and Basel, the PSI, the X-ray detector manufacturer Dectris AG in Baden, and at the ETHZ. These lectures were very well attended by 70-100 colleagues from in- and outside academia, and a number of new collaborations were discussed, some of which are now running at present. The 2024 Flack Lectures will provide us with the honor of having Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman tour Switzerland for one week.
The annual meeting of the SSCr took place at the UZH on September 8th, organized by Bernhard Spingler (University of Zürich). The annual meeting 2023 will take place at the University of Basel on September 12th, organized by Alessandro Prescimone, running under the title “Polymorphism”.
There are two relevant crystallographic conferences in 2023, the European Powder Diffraction Conference (EPDIC) in Padova, and the European Crystallographic Meeting (ECM), also in Padova. During EPDIC, the SSCr is going to bid for 2026, to host the conference in Crans Montana, VS.
Two issues of the Society’s Newsletter: No. 109 and No. 110
Howard Flack Crystallographic Lecture series organized by the SSCr, November 2023, with lectures on Total Scattering and Local Order given by Simon Billinge (Columbia University, NY) at EPFL, Bern, Basel, PSI, Dectris AG (Baden), ETHZ.
First topical workshop on Small Angle X-ray Scattering, September, ETHZ:
Annual Meeting of the Swiss Society for Crystallography (University of Zürich, September 8th, 2023)
The Swiss Society for Crystallography SSCr is an adhering body of the International Union of Crystallography, IUCr, represented in the general assembly by its IUCr delegates Pascal Schouwink and Simon Grabowsky. A number of Swiss crystallographers are active members in IUCr Commissions.
The Swiss Society for Crystallography SSCr is part of the European Crystallographic Association (ECA), represented by Anthony Linden as delegate. The SSCr is also part of the International Organization for Crystal Growth (IOCG) represented by Enrico Giannini as delegate.
Four travel grants were awarded to young SSCr members in 2023 (500 CHF support for poster or workshops, 750 CHF support for oral). Bettina Tran (Unifr), European Colloid & Interface Society in Naples, Italy. Maximilian Krödel (ETHZ), ACS Spring Meeting 2023 in Indianapolis. Rohan Pokrakath (University of Basel), UK Colloids 2023. Yaser Balmohammadi (University of Bern), IUCr 2023. Samuel Watts (University of Fribourg), IUCr 2023.
Two issues of the Society’s Newsletter: No. 109 and No. 110