Cerdanyola del Vallès, 21th October 2018. The workshop was mainly addressed to non-expert users of infrared microspectroscopy and covered the main topics required for a successful infrared microspectroscopy experiment, moving from sample preparation to practical infrared measurements up to data analysis in several relevant applications: biological and biomedical, material science, cultural heritage, etc. For this purpose, the workshop program included lectures on the basis of infrared microspectroscopy as well as tutorials on infrared measurements at the MIRAS beamline and hands-on training on infrared data handling (chemical imaging and individual spectra) with data analysis software (OPUS, Bruker® and Unscrambler, CAMO®).
Participants consider the workshop as a whole (including the topics, program and organization) a great success, resulting in a 98% of new scientists/users who expressed their interest to apply for beamtime at MIRAS beamline. In addition, the workshop clearly met the expectations of the participants, as most of them express to have learnt new things that can be applied to their research area.
40 scientists were selected among the 70 applications that were received. Around 50% of the selected applicants are working in a research fields related to biological and biomedical applications. The other 50% are working in material sciences fields. 95% of the selected participants had never performed any synchrotron-based FTIR experiment at MIRAS BL. Last but not least, the participants of the workshop were equally distributed regarding the gender (50% female, 50% male).
FTIR workshop had the participation of international researchers with strong expertise in infrared microspectroscopy in several fields: Dr. Gary Ellis (CSIC, Spain), Prof. Nativitat Salvadó (UPC, Spain), Prof. Josep Sulé-Suso (Keele University, UK), Prof. Montserrat López-Mesas (UAB, Spain), Dr. Frank Westad (CAMO), as well as the participation of the MIRAS team (Dr. Tanja Ducic, Dr. Martin Kreuzer, Dr. Núria Benseny and Dr. Immaculada Martínez-Rovira) lead by Dr. Ibraheem Yousef.
