European Spallation Source strengthens ties with Europe's neutron community

Researchers from Poland and across Europe gathered at the Potocki Palace in Będlewo, near Poznań, for the 2026 Conference on Neutron Scattering and Complementary Methods in Modern Research. This year's event marked a new chapter for one of Poland's long-standing scientific meetings, as it adopted an international format for the first time.

The conference, co-organized by the Institute of Molecular Physics and Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, along with the Polish Neutron Scattering Society, provided an opportunity for the European Spallation Source (ESS) to connect directly with researchers who may become part of its user community. Discussions focused on instrumentation, how to develop neutron experiments, prepare strong scientific proposals, and how complementary techniques like neutron and X-ray scattering can enhance studies.

"Conferences like this are an important part of how we at ESS are preparing for the future: not only through building infrastructure and instruments, but also through scientific networks, training, and collaboration. I look forward to new collaborations and excellent early user experiments from Polish research groups that may result from this conference," said Andrew Jackson, ESS Division Head for Large Scale Structures.

Particular attention was given to early-career researchers and building new collaborations ahead of future ESS experiments. The conference also highlighted the importance of maintaining national capabilities alongside access to international facilities, with plans for Poland's MARIA reactor and national neutron infrastructure presented as complementary to ESS.