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CERIC-ERIC Fellows’ trip to Croatia and Hungary

CERIC-ERIC fellows undertook their first joint travel to the Ruđer Bosković Institute (RBI) in Zagreb and the Budapest Neutron Centre (BNC), aiming at networking with the administrative, technical and scientific personnel involved in building a competitive and international research environment in the European Research Area. The whole visit was very useful for tightening links among facilities participating in CERIC, which are highly committed to providing a cutting-edge multi-technique research service in the fields of materials and biomaterials.

At the RBI in Zagreb, the CERIC Board of Directors and the General Assembly held their third meeting. Milko Jakšić, deputy of the RBI’s Director General, welcomed the group. While some of the fellows met the heads of the administrative department from the institute, to start coordinating joint activities in this field, Marko Karlušić, research associate at the laboratory for semiconductors, headed a visit to the Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator and to the ion beamlines of the facility.

The instruments open to CERIC users are the nuclear microprobe facility, the high-resolution PIXE spectrometer, TOF ERDA, irradiation and detector testing and dual beam irradiation and RBS channeling. The facility also has sample preparation equipment and provides users with all the top-level techniques for research in the fields of natural sciences and technology.

At the BNC, Tamás Belgya, Deputy Director-General of the Centre for Energy Research, arranged a two-day visit to the KFKI Campus, where the center is located. The scientists from BNC showed the group the instruments available in the last CERIC call for proposals: the small angle neutron scattering diffractometer (SANS), the neutron diffractometer PSD, the neutron reflectometer with polarization option GINA, the prompt gamma activation analysis PGAA and the high-resolution TOF powder diffractometer. BNC is the only facility offering a neutron source in CERIC, complementing other techniques and contributing to the multidisciplinary approach of research projects.

The team also visited some companies producing parts and devices for laboratories, neutron beamlines and external firms.