HERCULES SCHOOL: Neutrons & Synchrotron Radiation for Science
The next HERCULES session will take place from March 9th to April 12th, 2025
Our partner sites for HERCULES 2025 will be: ALBA, Petra III/EU-XFEL, KIT, and SOLEIL.
IN BRIEF...
HERCULES EUROPEAN SCHOOL is a five weeks course coordinated by the Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA). The school provides training for students, postdoctoral and senior scientists from European and non-European universities and laboratories, in the field of Neutrons, X-ray Synchrotron Radiation, and Free Electron Laser for condensed matter studies (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science, Geosciences, Industrial applications). Neutron and X-ray science is integrated with complementary techniques like (but not only) optical and electron microscopy, NMR, optical spectroscopy.
It includes lectures, practicals, tutorials, and visits of Large Facilities: ALBA in Barcelona, KIT in Karlsruhe, Petra III and European XFEL in Hamburg, Elettra and FERMI in Trieste, ESRF and ILL in Grenoble, SOLEIL in Paris-Saclay, and PSI in Villigen.
The language of the course is English.
See the general programme for more information.
How HERCULES IS ORGANISED...
The school is divided in two parts:
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PART I: BASIC METHODS AND INSTRUMENTS :
This part is common for all the participants and lasts ~ 1.5 weeks
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PART II is divided into two parallel specialised sessions of ~ 3.5 weeks:
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Session A: PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY OF CONDENSED MATTER
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Session B: BIOMOLECULAR AND SOFT CONDENSED MATTER
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The school includes lectures, visits of Large Scale Facilities, practicals, labs, and tutorials.
A poster session is organised, where each participant puts up a poster presenting her/his thesis or research topic for a half-day.
... IN GRENOBLE:
Most of the course is held in Grenoble in the Polygone Scientifique. Lectures are usually hosted by ILL, ESRF, and CIBB, at the EPN campus.
Practicals, labs, and tutorials take place in partner institutes nearby:
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF)
- Institut de Biologie Structurale (IBS)
- Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL)
- Institut Néel
- Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses (LNCMI)
- Modeling and Exploration of Materials (MEM) Laboratory
The EMBL, ESRF, IBS, and ILL are located on the European Photon and Neutron (EPN) science campus. The Institut Néel and LNCMI are both located on the CNRS site. The MEM laboratory is located on the CEA site.
... OUTSIDE GRENOBLE, in a partner facility:
One week (out of the five of the school) is spent in a partner institution among a list of Large Scale Facilities:
- ALBA synchrotron in Barcelona, Spain
- Petra III synchrotron at DESY and European XFEL, in Hamburg, Germany
- Elettra and FERMI in Trieste, Italy
- KIT Light Source in Karlsruhe, Germany
- Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen, Switzerland
- SOLEIL synchrotron in Paris, France
