Every 5 years the Australian Government reviews and renews its policy approach to national research infrastructure investment referred to as the “National Research Infrastructure Roadmap”.
We encourage the Australian and International neutron scattering community and the wider Australian research community to get involved by completing the 2021 NRI Roadmap Stakeholder Survey to share how you’re currently using ACNS neutron beam instruments, and what you need in the future.
ACNS would appreciate your input to the survey and provide feedback on your current and future needs for neutron scattering.
To assist you we would like you to consider the following when completing the survey:
-The need to maintain ACNS neutron scattering instruments and supporting infrastructure at world-class standard
-The ongoing need for deuteration in neutron scattering and support for the National Deuteration Facility
-Your requirements from ACNS supporting infrastructure such as sample environments, scientific computing, complimentary equipment (X-ray instruments), data management etc.
-New neutron beam instruments and expansion of ACNS neutron beam instruments including the construction of a 2nd Neutron Guide Hall
-International travel support program for Australian researchers to facilitate enable access to neutron capabilities not available in Australia
Please note that the Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering is part of the “Nuclear Science Facilities (NSF)” NRI (question 10).
Apologies for the short notice – the survey closes on Wednesday 30th June.
The Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering (ACNS) and National Deuteration Facility (NDF) have announced their inaugural Impact awards.
They are offering prizes for explanations of what impacts your results with our facilities have had. Up to nine prizes, valued at up to $200 are on offer.
For details on how to enter and eligibility visit:
2021 is an important year for ANBUG users as the federal governement will develop the Australian Governement Research Infrastructure Roadmap, ANSTO will develop its Decadal Plan and ACNS is to start up its expansion planning on the Second Guide Hall. Feedback from our ANBUG members is extremely valuable! It is our opportunity to shape Australia’s future research facility that can provide sustainable and state-of-the art support for our research. Because of this, the ANBUG Executive Committee encourages all members and people who care and interested Australian Neutron Science and Technology to participate in this 10 -15 minutes survey.
It will be open for 4 weeks until Friday 2nd July.
The majority of the questions are intended for ACNS users, but if you are not a previous ACNS user and have suggestions on specific instruments, their resolution or other technical capabilities that you feel are currently missing, then we want to hear from you too!
Please forward this survey to anyone you think may be interested or through relevant networks
If you are interested in joining a specific working group focused on developing new neutron facilities, please email us at secretary@anbug.net.
The Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering (ACNS) at ANSTO has developed a comprehensive resource in their Sample Environment Handbook.
This manual is designed to give you information about their sample environment equipment to help you choose the best fit for the parameters you want to achieve.
ACNS offers a large range of equipment across multiple neutron beam instruments, which can make choosing difficult, as there are a number of sample environment options to achieve similar parameters on each neutron beam instrument.
A lot of our ANBUG members might not be aware that we are a member of the Asia-Oceania Neutron Scattering Association (AONSA). Please check out their website (http://aonsa.org/) if you’d like to learn more!
This year, three ANBUG members, Dr Teng Lu, Dr. Rezwanul Haque and Prof. Rob Robinson, were awarded AONSA prizes!
Dr Teng Lu, from ANU, was awarded a 2021 AONSA Young Research Fellowship. The title of his fellowship is “The order-disorder feature and lattice dynamics in silver niobate-based materials” and will be hosted by the J-PARC proton accelerator facility in Japan.
Dr. Rezwanul Haque, from the University of the Sunshine Coat, was also awarded a 2021 AONSA Young Research Fellowship. The title of his fellowship is “Exploring the mechanical properties of Pb-free SAC-305 solder with Bi additions” and will be hosted by the China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS).
Prof Rob Robinson was awarded the 2021 AONSA prize “For his outstanding achievements in understanding magnetism of actinide and heavy-fermion materials using neutron scattering, seminal contributions in building the world-leading neutron facility in Australia, and continuous dedication for the promotion of neutron science in the Asia-Oceania region“
ANBUG (albeit a little late!) wishes to congratulate its past secretary, Dr. Andrew Clulow, and his colleagues at Monash University for being awarded the 2020 Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Innovative Use of Technology.
This award acknowledged their innovative new synchrotron-based methods to study the interaction of milk and milk-like systems with drugs.
The team members, based in the Drug Delivery Disposition and Dynamics theme at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS), are Professor Boyd, Dr Malinda Salim, Dr Andrew Clulow and Ms Gisela Ramirez. Dr Adrian Hawley from the Australian Synchrotron is also an integral part of the team, providing the critical link to this major infrastructure that has been crucial to the advances made during the project.
At the ANBUG Annual General Meeting in November 2020, Dr Jamie Schulz, the Director of the Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering (ACNS), provided an update on the operations, including the effects of COVID19. He also announced an exciting new development: the beginning of a new community engagement program in 2021 to build the scientific case for developing a second neutron guide hall, along with a new generation of instruments. In case you missed it, a copy of his presentation slides are linked below..
Neutron reflectometry is a powerful technique to study thin films with nanometer-scale precision. RefNx is open-source software developed by Andrew Nelson at ANSTO to fit and interpret neutron reflectometry patterns. He has kindly provided a series of video tutorials explaining each step of the process.
Full profiles of our ANBUG awardees can be found at the ANBUG Awards Page
ANBUG Career Award 2020 – Prof. John White (Australian National University, Canberra)
Professor John White has been working in the field of neutron scattering science globally for 60 years. He rapidly undertook leadership roles at major neutron research facilities including acting as the neutron beam coordinator at Harwell (UK) and director of the ILL (France). John continued his involvement in advances in neutron science upon returning to Australia in 1985 as a professor at the ANU. He was instrumental in the development of the reflectometer and AUSANS instruments at HIFAR, which directed the design of their successors at OPAL. John’s influence continues to permeate through the Australian neutron scattering community through those he has taught and mentored, many of whom are still active researchers in neutron scattering science throughout the world. The ANBUG membership would like to congratulate John on his exceptional career.
ANBUG Neutron Award 2020 – Prof. Anna Paradowska (ANSTO, Lucas Heights & University of Sydney, Sydney)
Professor Anna Paradowska works as a scientist but is an engineer by training and in her heart. Hailing from Poland, Anna completed her PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Monash University before becoming an international expert in neutron diffraction stress analysis. Anna’s research bridges the industrial and academic worlds and she has co-held academic appointments whilst working on neutron strain scanner beamlines Engin-X (RAL, UK) and Kowari (ANSTO, Australia). Anna currently has a joint appointment between ANSTO (ACNS) and the Univseristy of Sydney. Anna has pioneered industrial engagement at ACNS and her goal is to support Australian and global industry to build long term collaborations between industry, universities and neutron scattering facilities to improve manufacturing of complex industrial products. ANBUG congratulates Anna on her fantastic work in this area and looks forward to seeing where her ultra-collaborative approach will take her next.
ANBUG Young Scientist Award 2020 – Dr David Cortie (University of Wollongong, Wollongong)
Dr David Cortie is currently an ARC DECRA fellow at the University of Wollongong, his alma mater. His research focusses on the interplay between structure, dynamics and magnetism in quantum materials. In the last seven years since his PhD was conferred, he has made great use of polarised neutron scattering technique to investigate the properties of materials from the bulk scale down to the nanoscale, making key contributions to the emerging fields of nanostructures and thin films. ANBUG would like to congratulate David on his impressive contributions to Australian neutron scattering in this early stage of his career.
Outstanding PhD Award 2020 – Damian Goonetilleke (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe; formerly the University of New South Wales, Sydney)
Dr Damian Goonetilleke completed his PhD at the University of New South Wales under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Neeraj Sharma. His project focussed on the operando structural characterisation of materials for energy storage. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Battery and Electrochemistry Laboratory (BELLA), a joint lab of BASF SE and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, where he investigates cathode materials for Li-ion batteries. Damian’s thesis combined structural characterisation of electrochemical devices under operation using both neutron and X-ray scattering techniques. His work has led to insights on how to improve the performance of existing devices, whilst revealing pathways towards new devices and materials for energy storage. ANBUG congratulates Damian on his outstanding PhD studies and wishes him all the best for his future career.
