On Jan 18th a kick-off meeting of the Sylinda project took place. Fourteen representatives of the project partners were joined by Marta Muter, a Project Officer from the European Comission and Ioana Petre, a Policy Officer at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Research and Innovation. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting took place remotely via the Zoom platform.
Debated topics included both organizational aspects of the project, with the special emphasis placed on discussing the impact of the pandemic on the planned activities, such as Sylinda Summer School, and the scientific background of the industrial experiments to be carried out at the X-ray absorption beamline at SOLARIS. It was agreed, that a large degree of flexibility is needed, with regard to the dates of the events planned during the preparation phase of the project, due to the high degree of uncertainty associated with the health situation and travel restrictions in Europe.
Safety of the staff, involved in the planned exchanges, and young researchers, who will participate in the summer school and the pilot experiments, is the highest priority for the Sylinda project partners. At the same time, there is a strong understanding, that the hands-on experience, especially in case of using synchrotron radiation facilities for academic or industrial research, and in-person networking during the summer school, are highly valuable for the participants and should not be discarded easily.
Project partners and the project officer committed to working together, in order to find the solution to these issues and ensure the long-term success of the Sylinda project, even in these times of great uncertainty.