Summer School 2014



SuperSTEM invites you to its 6th biennial Summer School


Advanced Topics in Aberration-Corrected STEM

4 - 7 July 2014

at the SuperSTEM Laboratory

Daresbury UK

The summer school builds on the established series of schools and workshops held at SuperSTEM every two years. This year's school moves its focus to Advanced Topics in Aberration-Corrected Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy. It is organised as a post-conference satellite event to mmc2014.

The talks and practicals will cover topics including: principles of aberration correction and diagnosis, advanced imaging theory, instrumentation design and advanced optics, quantitative image analysis, spectroscopies, simulation of images and EELS spectra. A preliminary programme can be found below.

Lectures will be complemented by practicals in small groups (5-6 people), including hands on operation of the SuperSTEM instruments and introduction to advanced analysis software such as HyperSpy and Jitterbug.

The workshop is intended for PhD students, post-doctoral researchers as well as academics that have an existing background in electron microscopy.

The SuperSTEM Summer School was made possible in part through the generous support of the ESTEEM2 network, RMS, EMS, Nion Co. and HREM Research Inc.

Preliminary Programme

To foster scientific exchange, all participants are kindly asked to bring a poster (A0 format or equivalent) presenting some of their scientific results. The school will include a "social" poster session and all participants will have the opportunity to introduce their posters through a short presentation.

Application: from 10/02/2014 until 31/03/2014

is now closed

In order to provide to all the school participants real hands-on experience on the instruments and with the analysis software, the number of places available for this year's summer school is limited to 24.

Should these fill up too quickly, we may have to select applicants based on merit and their need for advanced training in aberration-corrected STEM.

We therefore kindly ask that along with your application, you provide us with a short CV, a short cover letter and one or two letters of support to help us in this process. The details of how you can send us these accompanying documents (through a separate email) will be provided in the acknowledgement screen after the submission of the application form. Once both your application form and accompanying documents have been received, we will send you a confirmation e-mail.

Registration: from 09/04/2014 until 25/04/2014

We will notify selected applicants by the 09th April 2014 and they will be able to pay the registration fee and book the hotel from 09/04/2014 until 25/04/2014 via the RMS' mmc2014 website (more details to follow).

The registration fee of £450 covers:

  • Participation in all lectures and practical sessions
  • Coach transport to/from the hotel to the SuperSTEM facility every day of the summer school
  • Lunches/Dinners
  • Excursion and Barbecue
  • Handouts, including a copy of the book "Aberration-corrected analytical transmission electron microscopy", R. Brydson Ed., Wiley.

The ESTEEM2 network is generously funding a number of scholarships to attend the school. These scholarships are available to applicants from institutions within the E.U. but outside the host country: U.K. based applicants cannot be considered. ESTEEM-funded participants will have their registration fee and accommodation costs during the school (4 nights) fully covered. Note that ESTEEM participants will be allocated shared rooms.

Please indicate at the application stage if you would like to be considered for an ESTEEM place. Note that depending on participant numbers not all ESTEEM applicants may be able to benefit from these fully-funded places.

Location:

The summer school will take place at the SuperSTEM Laboratory on the STFC Daresbury Campus in Daresbury.

The STFC Daresbury Campus is situated between Manchester and Liverpool, about a half-hour drive from either airport, in the middle of beautiful Cheshire countryside, flanked by woodland and with the Bridgewater Canal running alongside.

View Superstem in a larger map

Accommodation:

Accommodation for the participants of the summer school has been arranged at the Runcorn Holiday Inn which is about 6 miles from the Daresbury Campus and the SuperSTEM facility. A coach will collect participants in the mornings and return them to the hotel in the evenings. When registering for the school you will be given a registration code for the hotel that will allow you to book a shared or single room at a discounted rate (£57 single room per night, £48 shared room per night).

Travel:

by car

The Runcorn Holiday Inn is off junction 12 of the M56 motorway and the Daresbury Laboratory is ~1 mile from junction 11. Daresbury village is about 5 miles from Warrington and Runcorn, the two largest towns in the locality.

by train

To Warrington: there are two railway stations Warrington Bank Quay and Warrington Central, which together provide many inter-city train connections. Taxi services to Daresbury Labs are available in front of both stations and cost ~ £10.

There is also a bus service (X30), from the nearby Warrington bus station, which runs every hour to the Daresbury Ring O'Bells pub, a short walk from SuperSTEM.

To Runcorn: Runcorn Station is on the Liverpool - London Euston line and you can take a taxi to either the hotel or SuperSTEM.

For more details about train connections, consult the National Rail Enquiries webpage

by airplane

SuperSTEM is conveniently located in a short distance of two international airports: Manchester International Airport (most major airlines, as well as several low cost airlines) and Liverpool John Lennon Airport (mainly low cost airlines). Both are located ~30mins by car from the laboratory.

Taxi (about £27 from either airport when booked in advance) and train services (to Warrington Central) are also available from both airports.

If you are travelling to any of the London airports the easiest way to reach Daresbury is to take the train to either Warrington Bank Quay or Runcorn stations from London Euston (~ 2 hours journey). To get to Euston station you may use the London Underground or express trains to Central London (Paddington/Victoria train stations from Heathrow/Gatwick airports, respectively).

Contacts:

Contact in summer school organisational matters:

We are looking forward to seeing you!