ESRF opened in 1994 in Grenoble, France, and is located next to two other large research facilities, Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) and The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). ESRF is an international collaboration with 22 partners including 13 member countries and 9 scientific members.
The value of Danish membership
The experiments have great value for a wide range of scientific disciplines, including chemistry, materials physics, archaeology and cultural heritage, structural biology and medicine, environmental studies and nanotechnologies. ESRF is also used by the industry to improve processes and product development in for example pharmaceuticals.
Over the years, the Danish company, DANFYSIK, has delivered advanced magnets to ESRF.
Danish contribution to the membership
The four Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden are members of the ESRF through the consortium Nordsync, as formulated in the revised agreement concerning Nordsync that entered into force as from 2020. The objective for Nordsync is to coordinate and enhance the use of synchrotron radiation generated by ESRF for scientific and industrial research in the Nordic countries, and to promote purchases to ESRF from Nordic companies.
Nordsync contributes to ESRF with about 5 per cent of the ESRF’s total annual budget. The distribution of national shares between the four Nordsync countries is adjusted every third year based on their use of beamtime at ESRF and potential overuse of the facility. In 2020, the Danish share thus amounted to approx. DKK 12.45 million.
DANSCATT - Instrument centre for Danish users of synchrotron and neutron sources and free-electron X-ray lasers organises the Danish users of synchrotron sources with the objective to facilitate access for Danish researchers and to assist Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education with expert advice in the field.