discovered_01_2013

FOCUS// The HZDR Research Magazine WWW.Hzdr.DE 18 19 center or to SPIRIT. And when, in 2010, I was getting ready to retire, I was given the chance to stay on part-time as project coordinator. I couldn’t and didn’t want to miss that. My main incentives were my highly reliable team and the fact that SPIRIT attracts a large number of external users who are coming to Dresden to conduct research asking fascinating questions. And thanks to SPIRIT, our Ion Beam Center, which also means a great deal to me personally, can continue to play first violin in the European research concert orchestra. A lot of scientists would view this project as a burden and potentially a monster of bureaucracy. Doesn’t the coordinator get really involved, or, to put it differently, is it not sometimes tedious to get all the various partner institutes to tune their instruments in unison, so-to-speak? Naturally, this type of project isn’t always smooth sailing. There have been moments of despair and disappointments no doubt. Imagine having the EU hold you accountable for every last penny you spend. And we’re talking seven million Euros over a four-year-period. Luckily, in Rossendorf, we have many years’ experience with the EU’s infrastructure programs. Ever since the fourth framework program, EU infrastructure funds have been pouring into our Ion Beam Center; SPIRIT is part of the seventh EU framework program. A big difference, however, is that the first couple of grants were given exclusively to our Institute; what we’re looking at now is a large international consortium. Because I was fully aware of the challenges inherent in this, when the project started, we had to invest a lot of time and effort into selecting eligible partner institutes. The EU general guideline at the time was: no more than ten partners – and somehow we ended up with eleven. In Europe, there are some 35 ion beam labs with comparable equipment. Choosing partners was a delicate task because everyone really wanted to be a part of it. At the time, we sent out carefully crafted questionnaires to over 30 labs and then evaluated them in light of the following criteria: as much as possible, all of the different protocols that exist for processing and examination of materials with the help of ion beams should be represented in the SPIRIT FIRST Violin: As Europe's leading Ion Beam Center, the HZDR shows users the many opportunities afforded by ion beams, opens up its facilities to them, and ensures access to top-notch institutions. Photo: Oliver Killig

discovered_01_2013

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