From michal.strach at chalmers.se Wed Jun 3 08:26:45 2026 From: michal.strach at chalmers.se (Michal Strach) Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2026 06:26:45 +0000 Subject: [MSCF-Network] Core Facility Network - Welcome to Gothenburg in 2027 Message-ID: Dear All, Last week we got news that the funding for organising the next in-person network meeting was approved. So, I am very happy to say that we will be able to invite you to Gothenburg between the 19th and 23rd of April 2027 - Please reserve the dates in your calendars! We hope to fix the exact dates before the holidays, and finalize the programme when we are back after the summer break. We are currently looking for potential invited guests. Please find below our session ideas. Let me know if you would like to hear about a specific topic that is not on this list, contribute with a talk, or know of someone that we could invite to give a talk. Also, if you already know that you would like to attend the meeting, please send me an email. It's not binding in any way, but it will help us with the logistics if we know approximately how many participants we should plan for. Session ideas: How do core facilities contribute to European research goals? * Role of core facilities in national strategies * International coordination efforts * Access programmes Core facility management * Establishing a core facility * Creating sustainable core facilities * Interactions with Industry * How to manage advanced and standard instrumentation at a core? * Procurement strategies Core - National infrastructure relationship * Collaborations between cores and national infrastructures Scientific advances at core facilities Data * National Data Services * Data mining opportunities * Ontologies and databases * Classification of Data * Core facility obligations regarding data management * Electronic lab notebook, booking and inventory solutions Outreach and PR Collaborations, Networks and Diffuse Infrastructures * Europeans materials research access networks * Existing core facility networks - what can we learn? * Managing diffuse national infrastructures AI and Automation * Robotics in materials research * High throughput research pipelines * Machine learning for experimental materials discovery * Use cases for Agentic AI Prioritisation, Funding, and Policy * Nordic region funding bodies * European funding initiatives * European and National Policies Technical Career Paths * Technician/Engineer career development in European states * Apprenticeship programmes I am also sharing the minutes from our last Admin Working Group meeting below. Please send me any feedback or ideas you might have regarding both the in-person meeting and the online meeting (details in the minutes). I hope we can schedule an administration working group online meeting right after the summer holidays to summarize all your input and finalize the programmes for both network meetings. All the best, and have a great summer! Michal Meeting Minutes: Research Infrastructure Network Administration Working Group. Subject: Network Strategy and Future Planning Location: Online Follow-up Actions: Distributed to all network members ________________________________ Digital Presence & Communication * Webpage: The updated network site is now hosted by MAPEX. All current information has been uploaded. * Action: Members can review and verify their respective entries in the infrastructure table. * LinkedIn: While recognized as a valuable tool, maintaining a profile requires significant effort. * Decision: The launch of a LinkedIn presence will be deferred until the network expands following the next in-person meeting, unless a member volunteers to manage the content. * Mailing list: For now the mailing list remains the main means of communication. * Working groups exchange and communication: Google has been proposed as the primary exchange platform for working groups due to inconsistent availability of Microsoft Teams and other solutions across different institutions. We are now looking into setting up Pages or Team Chat to exchange and communicate within our working group. It is a bit problematic with GDPR. Upcoming Events * In-Person Meeting (April 2027): * Location: Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg. * Duration: 2.5 days (2 days of sessions, 0.5 days of tours). * Note: A participation fee will be required. * Online Meeting (Autumn 2026): * Format: Half-day session focused on working group progress and technical seminars. * Content: Short talks (10–15 mins) on current advancements and opportunities. * Working group heads will discuss and propose specific dates. Network Expansion & Collaboration * Growth: Members are encouraged to distribute network information within their professional circles. Formal outreach to interested parties will begin once the April 2027 meeting program is finalized. * External Networks: No decisions have been made regarding joining existing networks at this time. * Action: We aim to map the networks our members are currently part of. ________________________________ Call for Contributions We kindly ask members to provide input on the following: * Seminar Topics: Propose 10–15 minute talks for the next online meeting. These can be something you would like to talk about yourself, or hear about from others. Some suggestions: * Electron Diffraction: Funding and operations. * Career development for technical infrastructure staff. * Managing "tricky" instruments (e.g., NAP-XPS) in shared facilities. * European and national funding opportunities. * Goals: Propose specific, long-term goals to help guide the future activities and trajectory of the network. Clear goals that we are aware of for now: * Meetings * Infrastructure database * Exchange program Possible goals to consider: * Seminar series * Workshops * Facilitating access * Influencing policy * Advocating for technical staff career development * Joint writing of review/guidelines/statements Michal Strach PhD, Senior Research Engineer Chalmers University of Technology Department of Physics and Astronomy Chalmers Materials Analysis Laboratory (CMAL) Fysikgränd 3 SE-412 96 Göteborg - Sweden Room F4417A Mobile: +46 (0)723 59 57 08 michal.strach at chalmers.se www.chalmers.se CMAL website CMAL Linked-in [cid:daad5a40-29be-4d2f-b1e2-494add3e75f7] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Outlook-znrl00hj.png Type: image/png Size: 611164 bytes Desc: Outlook-znrl00hj.png URL: