Facilitating Collaborations With Universities

One of the challenges for a facility such as Diamond is to enable the widest range of researchers to benefit from the set of techniques available. For nearly two years now, Dr Michele Warren has been developing the relationships between researchers at the University of Oxford and Diamond in order to stimulate new projects and collaborations.

Michele has a physics background and carried out her own research in mineral sciences, including five years as a lecturer at the University of Manchester. She says, “Earth Sciences was an amazing field to work in, because I could learn how to work with scientists from so many different disciplines.” Michele moved to Oxford in mid-2008 to take up the new post of ‘Oxford-Diamond Research Facilitator’. At that time, Diamond was already bringing its first ‘Phase II’ beamlines online and offering constantly evolving opportunities for research from the outset. She splits her time between the two sites, spending two days per week at Diamond so that she can learn about the beamlines, the expertise available and the latest developments. “This is really valuable to me”, she says, “as I can get to know Diamond’s scientists and understand more about the technical aspects of the beamlines.”

Dr Michele Warren

Using this detailed knowledge of Diamond, Michele facilitates new projects for researchers in Oxford in a variety of ways, from first enquiries through to collaborative grant applications. She gives seminars about Diamond to research groups in Oxford, as well as meeting with individuals who are interested in finding out about the synchrotron. If particular techniques seem applicable, she aims to identify the beamlines that might be suitable along with the major technical considerations or constraints.

Michele is keen to stress that researchers then need to apply through the established channels, and while she can offer advice, “in the end, everything comes down to the excellence of the science being proposed.”

She enjoys being able to host visitors, present an overview of Diamond and give them a general tour: “Beamline scientists are busy”, she says, “and this lets me ask for their time only for the detailed scientific questions but still give Oxford visitors a wider overview of Diamond.” Working in collaboration with Diamond, she has also organised group tours for graduate students, ranging from medical sciences to accelerator physics, so that from the start of their careers they can have an understanding of the capabilities of the UK’s national synchrotron facility. Ultimately, she hopes all these activities will lead to exciting new discoveries at Diamond’s beamlines and greater collaboration between university researchers and Diamond’s scientists.

Dr Michele Warren can be contacted on +44 (0)1865 283006 or michele.warren@diamond.ac.uk