News

LEAPS General Assembly has approved the landscape analysis document at their meeting in Brussels 3 April 2019.

This document explores the present landscape of photon science facilities and scientific challenges encountered by these unique tools, together with the planned developments, both in terms of key technologies and facility upgrades. It is based on the already elaborated document LEAPS strategy 2030 and aims at implementing the first version of the landscape analysis, which in turn represents the first step towards the LEAPS Research Infrastructure Roadmap.

The project PaNOSC, Photon and Neutron Open Science Cloud, is one of five cluster projects funded under the European H2020 programme. The project, which will run until December 2022, is coordinated by the ESRF and brings together six strategic European research infrastructures.

Large-scale research infrastructures produce a huge amount of scientific data on a daily basis. For their storage and future (re)use, data need to managed according to the FAIR principles, i.e., be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable. The adaptation and development of both policies and technologies are key to making FAIR data a reality and to serving the broad set of stakeholders who will benefit from a coherent ecosystem of data services.

Under the headline “European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)”, projects covering a wide range of scientific disciplines from physics, astronomy, and life sciences, to social sciences and humanities, have been funded by the European Commission to build and develop the EOSC, which includes a comprehensive catalogue of services for the storage, management, analysis and re-use of research data.

The project PaNOSC, Photon and Neutron Open Science Cloud is one of five cluster projects funded under the European H2020 programme. PaNOSC started 1 December 2018 and was officially launched 15 January 2019 at the kick-off meeting, which took place at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France. The project, which will run until December 2022, is coordinated by the ESRF.

By bringing together six strategic European research infrastructures – ESRF, CERIC-ERIC, ELI-DC, European Spallation Source, European XFEL and Institut Laue-Langevin, ILL and the e-infrastructures EGI and GEANT, PaNOSC will contribute to the construction and development of the EOSC, an ecosystem allowing universal and cross-disciplinary open access to data through a single access point, for researchers in all scientific fields.

The project will work closely with the national photon and neutron sources in Europe, members of LEAPS and LENS (League of Advanced European Neutron Sources), in order to develop common policies, strategies, and solutions in the area of FAIR data policy, data management and data services.

The services developed for data preservation and open access, as well as for data storage, analysis and simulation, will allow users to access data from the catalogues of the existing research facilities in a seamless and easy fashion, for immediate sharing and re-use. Connection to the EOSC Service Catalogue will be an essential step to make the catalogue an entry point to all the available tools and services developed for users in the frame of EOSC-related projects.

The mission of PaNOSC is, therefore, to contribute to the realization of a data commons for Neutron and Photon science, providing services and tools for the many scientists from existing and future disciplines using data from photon and neutron sources. To achieve this aim, the exchange of know-how and experiences will be crucial to driving a change in culture by embracing Open Science among the scientific communities that the project will target.

For such a paradigm shift to take place, actions fostering communication with other EOSC projects from the other clusters, participation in scientific and science policy events, and the development of materials for e-learning for scientists and IT staff, will be carried out throughout the project.

This news article was originally published 19 December 2018 at https://www.esrf.eu/home/news/general/content-news/general/h2020-project-panosc-officially-started.html

LEAPS join forces with the European Commission to strengthen Europe’s leading role in science

Dr Caterina Biscari, Director of the ALBA Synchrotron in Spain and Vice-Chair of LEAPS, League of European Accelerator-based Photon Sources, presented the LEAPS Strategy 2030 to Jean-David Malo, Director, Directorate General Research and Innovation, European Commission.

“A world where European science is a catalyst for solving global challenges, a key driver for competitiveness and a compelling force for closer integration and peace through scientific collaboration.” This is the vision of LEAPS, League of European Accelerator-based Photon Sources, on which the LEAPS Strategy 2030 is based. Director Jean-David Malo, DG Research and Innovation, received the strategy today at the Bulgarian Presidency Flagship Conference on Research Infrastructures.

“I believe science makes the world a better place and I’m very happy to be able to present this strategy today”, said Dr Caterina Biscari, Director of ALBA Synchrotron and Vice-Chair of LEAPS. “I’m convinced it will be a major contribution in how to develop European research infrastructures in a cost-effective and sustainable way. I look forward to the upcoming discussions with the European Commission, with our national funders and with our extensive user community on how we, by joining forces, can boost European science and innovation.“

The health, prosperity, and security of European citizens today and in the future depend on meeting increasingly demanding challenges. These can be found in energy and transport, health care and food safety, and sustainable living. This demands new technology, new treatments and a better understanding of the world around us, all of which point to an increased role and reliance on highly sophisticated analytical tools like accelerator-based light sources to provide the most incisive means of measuring and unravelling atomic and molecular structures of the world around us.

Europe hosts 13 synchrotron radiation facilities and six free-electron laser facilities which all of them are founding members of LEAPS. They represent a multi-billion Euro investment with an annual operation budget of €700M serving more than 24 000 direct users.

“By bringing together the community of national and pan European synchrotrons and free-electron laser facilities, the LEAPS initiative should be encouraged as it aims at structuring the European landscape of Research Infrastructures, coordinating strategic investments and facilitating transnational access”, emphasised Jean-David Malo.

The LEAPS Strategy 2030 shows how the members, by joining forces, will be able to deliver even better capacity and capabilities at their research infrastructures. This will be done through smart specialisation, closer co-operation, better engagement with industry and working together with the existing user communities to reach out to scientists, academic and non-academic, that may not yet know of all the tools and skills available at photon sources for solving questions from all fields of science. The strategy explains how LEAPS will address key issues of the European Long-Term Sustainability Action Plan, presents roadmaps to optimise national and European resources and also describes the how the path towards FP9 looks with a few carefully selected pilot activities under the Horizon2020 programme.

“LEAPS fully embrace the European Commission’s “Open Innovation, Open Science, Open to the World” concept and with the planned activities building on our strategy we hope to make a substantial contribution in making this a reality”, concludes Dr Biscari.