Synchrotron news 7 July 2009

In this issue:

1. NZ Synchrotron Support Programme activities scaling down
2. Australian Synchrotron Science Winter school and NZSG Protein Crystallography Workshop
3. Important dates

1. NZ Synchrotron Support Programme activities scaling down

The NZ Synchrotron Support Programme (NZSSP) has been in operation since mid-2007. It has been funded through a TEC-IDF grant with the aim of building the NZ synchrotron user community, through providing travel funding to the Australian Synchrotron and elsewhere, funding for conference and workshop attendance, small science projects, and organizing an annual user meeting.

There are now over 40 individual NZ researchers who have been to the Australian Synchrotron, and over 140 on the mailing list. The user meetings in April 2008 and April 2009 attracted around 50 attendees each. 9 science projects have been funded. 3 students attended the Cheiron summer school in 2008, and 15 will be attending the Australian Synchrotron winter school this month.

With the TEC funding coming to an end as of 30 June 2009, the NZSSP has had to scale down its activities until other sources of funding can be found. This means that there are no longer funds available for travel to synchrotron facilities other than the Australian Synchrotron, nor for conference attendances or science projects.

However, NZSG will continue to act as the agent for NZ researchers travelling to the Australian Synchrotron and manage the funds that may be granted by ASC:
–    airfares up to a certain maximum amount ($840 ex AKL, $1000 ex WLG, $1140 ex CHC) – for up to 3 people per beamtime allocation
–    ground transportation up to $250 per beamtime allocation
–    accommodation for up to 3 people per beamtime allocation (assumed to be at Rusden House)

Any additional costs (daily incidentals, additional travellers) are to be covered by the institution involved.

The process for applying for these funds and obtaining reimbursement is the same. Please see our website for an application form.

Note also that these changes to the NZSSP do not affect NZSG’s role in managing the access for New Zealand researchers to Foundation Investor time on the Synchrotron (Preferred Access). NZSG will continue to call for proposals for beamtime in parallel with the general call for Merit Access by the Synchrotron.

2. Australian Synchrotron Science Winter school and NZSG Protein Crystallography Workshop

The Australian Synchrotron Science Winter school will be held from 13-16 July, and the NZSG Protein Crystallography Workshop from 17-18 July. 24 applications were received for the two events. Initially only 10 places were available on the Winter School for NZ participants, but given the high level of interest the Australian Synchrotron expanded this to 15. Similarly a decision was made to expand the PX workshop from 10 to 12 participants.

The following applicants were successful (listed in alphabetical order):
Sivakumar Balakrishnan (Massey) – Winter school
Ghader Bashiri (Auckland) – Winter school and PX workshop
Domagoj Belic (Canterbury) – Winter school
Rhesa Budhidarmo (Otago) – Winter school and PX workshop
Ruiqun Chen (Auckland) – Winter school
Alice Clark (Massey) – PX workshop
Penelope Cross (Canterbury) – PX workshop
Mathew Cumming (Waikato) – PX workshop
Roberta Gentile (AgResearch) – Winter school
Richard Hutton (Canterbury) – PX workshop
Haishun Jin (Auckland) – Winter school
Stuart Lansley (Canterbury) – Winter school
David Libich (Massey) – Winter school
Christian Linke (Auckland) – Winter school and PX workshop
Bronwyn Lowe (Otago) – Winter school
Peter Mace (Otago) – PX workshop
Peter Murmu (Victoria University) – Winter school
Muralidharan Muthu (Massey) – Winter school and PX workshop
Yoshio Nakatani – PX workshop
Grant Pearce (Canterbury) – Winter school and PX workshop
Aisyah Rehan (Auckland) – PX workshop
Morgan Scott (Auckland) – Winter school

Many thanks to Geoff Jameson, Chris Squire and Richard Bunker who will be travelling to help run the PX workshop.

3. Important dates

SRI (Synchrotron Radiation and Instrumentation) conference, 28 Sep – 2 Oct 2009
(abstract submission for poster presentations closes 31 July)

Australian Synchrotron user meeting – December 2009

Beamtime proposal submission portal open for requesting time in 2010/1: 10 Sep – 5 Oct 2009

Regards,

Bridget Ingham
Technical Director, New Zealand Synchrotron Support Programme

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