Recent news from the European Crystallographic Association

European crystallographers usually hold their Crystallographic Meeting (ECM) in Europe in years when the IUCr does not organise its triennial congress. 2023 was such a year without an ECM when the worldwide crystallographic community, including Europe, gathered in Melbourne, Australia. The ECA Council meeting was held remotely in two different sessions, on 20 and 22 September 2023, to ensure as high an attendance as possible. Meetings of the Executive Committee were organised remotely just before the Council Meeting on 11 and 12 September 2023, and in Poznań, Poland, from 2 to 4 February 2024.

A considerable part of the business at the ECA Council Meetings naturally concerns the planning of future ECMs and European Crystallographic Schools (ECSs), and Councillors receive progress updates on the planning of upcoming meetings as well as the opportunity to vote for the location of future ECMs and ECSs. Due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, where ECM35 was due to be held in 2025, a proposal was made by the Polish Crystallographic Association in collaboration with ECM35 organisers and other Ukrainian colleagues, to move the location of the conference to Poznań, which the Council approved. A bid from Czech colleagues to hold ECM36 in Prague (at the same location as the 25th IUCr Congress in 2021) was also presented and approved.

The Prizes awarded by the ECA were also discussed in detail. The oldest Prize is the Max Perutz Prize, which is awarded in recognition of meritorious achievements in any branch of crystallography, and the Erwin Félix Lewy Bertaut Prize, which is awarded jointly with the European Neutron Scattering Association to a young scientist in recognition of notable experimental, methodological or theoretical contributions to the investigation of matter using crystallographic or neutron scattering methods. The Alajos Kálmán Prize was created more recently and is awarded jointly with the Hungarian Chemical Society in recognition of outstanding scientific contributions in the field of structural sciences. At the Council meeting in September, proposals were heard and approved for the incorporation of two new prizes related to the ECA: the George M. Sheldrick Prize (awarded to a non-tenured researcher for outstanding scientific contributions in the field of structural sciences) and the Lodovico Riva de Sanseverino Prize (awarded in recognition of notable contributions to the dissemination of crystallography in the field of education at all levels). More information is available here. All five prizes will be awarded this year at ECM34 in Padova, Italy, in August.

Finally, of interest to younger members of the crystallographic community, the ECA Council heard the report on ECS8, which took place in person in Berlin, Germany, in June 2023. ECSs combine lectures and hands-on tutorials to provide attendees with a fundamental understanding of the principles underpinning crystallography. Each school is unique, however, and offers a variety of topics to cater to a broad range of interests. ECS9 will take place in 2024 in Nancy, France, and a successful bid takes ECS10 to Ohrid, North Macedonia, in 2025. For further information about the ECS, please go here.

The ECA finances were discussed extensively: it was decided to increase the part of the budget allocated to support schools, workshops and congresses, in particular for the ECA’s own ECSs.

The ECA’s General Interest Group 3 (GIG-03: Education in Crystallography) received a grant from the Royal Society of Chemistry (£5k), for the preparation and dissemination of a series of ten video interviews to celebrate the importance of women in the field of crystallography and science, while, at the same time, raising awareness about the pitfalls and obstacles on the way to reach gender parity in science. The first video will be launched in June 2024. GIG-03 is also preparing a Crystallography Video Competition (using a grant obtained from the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre) for schools in different European countries. The aim is to present the winning videos at ECM34.

European crystallographers continue to meet during the ECA’s monthly lunchtime webinars, a successful series of online seminars covering all sub-disciplines in crystallography and organised by the ECA’s young crystallographers. Eight lunchtime webinars took place from April 2023 until March 2024. Another series of webinars, the Distinguished Lectures on Quantum Crystallography and Complementary Fields, initiated by the ECA’s Special Interest Group 2 (SIG-02: Quantum Crystallography) and the IUCr Commission on Quantum Crystallography continued as well: eight webinars took place, usually with two lectures during the same webinar.