Valentina Piffer

The EU Project CALIPSOplus – and with it its tremendous integration and dissemination efforts – came to an end in October 2021, leaving the European light sources with the fear that the successes achieved might fade away without a successor programme.

Unfortunately, we already see the inclusion of scientific communities from EU 13 countries crumbling, due to a lack of trans national access funding. Several users informed us, that they will not submit proposals, since they cannot afford the trip to one of our facilities.

At the same time, COVID 19 forced us to rethink time-honoured procedures, to value new digital and virtual tools as well as take advantage of their potential. Digital formats from virtual tours and training to remote access options already exist, but these need to be advertised and extended.

The LEAPS plenary meeting decided to face these challenges and set up a new work programme for LEAPS working group “Education, Dissemination, Training” (WG6). Consecutively, a workshop was held, dealing with the future and tasks of WG6.

“It was more than impressive to see the great interest in outreach to new communities, new areas (scientifically as well as regionally) and to the general public”, explains Antje Vollmer, WG6 member who is spokesperson for the working group.

Bridges to ESUO and other LEAPS activities like the task Force IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, anti-discrimination) were discussed.

From across all LEAPS facilities 26 participants expressed great interest in WG 6, a work programme was established and first measures started the very same evening of the workshop.

A collection of all LEAPS activities concerning social media, virtual tours, education and training activities, and an event calendar is work in progress. A project “Include Africa” shall be presented to the LEAPS R&D board and subsequently to the LEAPS GA in spring this year.

“It was amazing and highly encouraging to see the strong involvement of so many facilities and the engagement which followed the workshop immediately,” says Vollmer enthusiastically.

The DIGITAL LEAPS initiative was triggered in 2020 as a response of LEAPS to the COVID-19pandemic, with the aim of increasing together, on a European level, the resilience of LEAPS facilities to times of crisis, where massive constraints on operations and mobility are taking place.

A preliminary analysis was presented at the 2020 LEAPS Plenary Meeting and it sparked a very positive feedback from both the General Assemble and members at the single facilities.

The preparation phase has started right afterwards, including from the very beginning some green aspects, which involve another strategic challenge nowadays where LEAPS contribution can be significant. DIGITAL LEAPS structure involve three homogenous pillars, STARS, HR⁴ and LIP, each one focusing on one specific aspect.

During the preparation phase, a fertile exchange of ideas at the level of the Research and Development Board (R&D Board) allowed to find inspiration from the three pillars for project proposals, which were submitted to the Horizon Europe call INFRA-2021-TECH-01-01 in September 2021. The proposal eRImote was since then approved and has reached the stage of Grant Agreement preparation.  

In addition, the R&D Board, in collaboration with the Coordination Board, published the position paper “DIGITAL LEAPS – A European Strategy on the Digital Transformation of Accelerator-based Photon Sources towards a resilient and sustainable European Research Area”.

After approval by the LEAPS General Assembly, the DIGITAL LEAPS project proposal has now started the executive phase.

During the first year, the focus of the three pillars will be on networking activities, with one pilot project for each pillar. The first phase takes into account both the connection with the proposals submitted to the Horizon Europe calls in September and the information collected during the preparation phase contacting the LEAPS facilities. The pilot projects will allow to complete an overview of the different actions undergoing at the LEAPS facilities to become more resilient, to explore the opportunities to create green facilities including circular economy aspects and interactions with industry, and to foster, in such a way, future common initiatives. The latter may seed both topics and proposals for Horizon Europe calls in the future RI work programs, i.e. 2023 onwards.

For additional information on DIGITAL LEAPS, please contact leaps-support@desy.de