SESAME was a co-organizer and one of the sponsors of the two-week School on Synchrotron Light Sources and their Applications which was hosted online by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) from 6th to 17th December 2021.
Also having co-sponsored the School were the African Light Source (AfLS), the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Lightsources for Africa, the Americas, Asia, Middle East and Pacific (LAAAMP), and The Cyprus Institute (CyI).
The ICTP school introduced young scientists to the design, operation, and research opportunities offered at a modern synchrotron light source and how such sources are realized. During the two weeks, a varied and wide spectrum of topics were covered, including a general introduction to Synchrotron Radiation by numerous specialists in the field, the in-depth treatment of data analysis for two of the techniques available at SESAME (IR and EXAFS) and the development of soft-skills such as science communication and the preparation of proposals. There was also a virtual tour of SESAME.
Lectures on these and other topics were delivered by twenty-six speakers from numerous light sources in Europe such as the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, ESRF, and the Max IV Laboratory, as well other science laboratories and international organizations among which the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, IAEA, ICTP and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), to cite but a few. Lectures by SESAME were delivered by the Director, Khaled Toukan, and the beamline scientists Messaoud Harfouche, Gianluca Lori and Gihan Kamel. The Scientific Director, Andrea Lausi, took participants on the virtual tour of SESAME.
One hundred and seven young scientists from various universities, colleges, centers, and laboratories from all corners of the world attended the school. Nineteen of them were from the SESAME Members. The videos of the full set of lectures that these young scientists were able to listen to during the School may be accessed here.