Read LINXS Annual Report 2024 Highlights

We are proud and happy to share our Annual Report 2024 Highlights with you!

Download our Annual Report 2024 Highlights

Executive Summary from our Director Trevor Forsyth

2024 was in many ways a pivotal year. After a lot of intense development during 2022 and 2023, LINXS was subject to a rigorous external review in early 2024. The outcome was extremely positive and has been crucial for the development of our strategy well into the future. 2024 also saw the final stages of the planned move into The Loop at the Science Village – which placed LINXS directly between the MAX IV and ESS central facilities as of early 2025. LINXS is now well positioned both physically and politically with clear mandates to extend its scientific engagement locally, nationally and internationally.

During 2024 the LINXS guest seminars continued with many researchers from all over the world presenting their work to the community. The LINXS visitor programme has also thrived, with extended visits by scientists in connection with the various scientific Themes. These visits continue to highlight the value of an ongoing visitor programme to LINXS as an advanced studies institute, and the importance of developing this towards a continuous presence at the institute that interacts routinely with both Theme activities and facility science.

During the year, we have continued to host five parallel Themes along with their associated activities and events. Two Themes came to an end during the year: Northern Lights on Food (NLF) and Integrative Pharmacology and Drug Discovery Theme (IPDD). Both have delivered significant results, along with networks and collaborations that will be sustained into the future. The IPDD Theme ended with an exceptional event at the Lund Medical Faculty Forum Medicum with some outstanding talks highlighting specific research as well as various key technical developments. The Theme has developed an extensive collaborative base involving various sample studies, experimental campaigns, data analyses, and joint grant applications. The NLF Theme has provided a compelling model for how a LINXS Theme can be successfully developed, executed and sustained. The working groups collaborated very effectively throughout the Theme’s existence and addressed a wide range of interdisciplinary science and brought together a large number of diverse scientists from both academia and industry. The core group successfully secured funding from a number of key organisations, extending the Theme’s impact.

Following the latest LINXS Theme call, we welcomed three new Themes that started in 2025. The Advanced Rheometry for Neutron and X-ray Science, (RheoMAXESS) Theme is led by Roland K.d.r from Chalmers University. The Quantum Materials (QMat) Theme is led by Andrew Boothroyd at Oxford University and focuses on linking theory and experiments at LINXS, ESS and MAX IV. The Advanced Imaging and Data Analysis (AIDA) Theme is led by Martin Bech from Lund University.

The Young Researchers Initiatives (YRI) have grown very strongly throughout the year. Particular thanks are due to Daniel Sarabi (LINXS & LU), Swati Aggarwal (ESS), Maria Pierantoni (LU) for the Life Sciences YRI, Sebastian Köhler (LU) and Oliver Hammond (ESS) for the Soft Matter YRI, and Sandra Benter (ESRF, France), Annika Stellhorn (ESS), Konstantin Werner (Grenoble INP, France), Isaac Lage (DTU, Denmark), Fiona Nermark (LU), Dalini Maharaj (Jülich, Germany), and Axl Eriksson (LU) for the Hard Matter YRI. These early career scientists have put together some outstanding events that are becoming increasingly international, with growing links to early career organisations at other European institutes.

The AMBER (Advanced Multiscale Biological imaging using European Research infrastructures) MSCA COFUND, coordinated by LINXS, started formally in October with a total funding portfolio of €13M. AMBER has progressed rapidly with three calls for postdoctoral scientists. This has been particularly pleasing given the unique opportunities it will resource to address key scientific and cultural gaps in biological and biomedical imaging – bridging length scales from molecular to organism, linking science and clinical communities, and engaging large scale facility infrastructures throughout Europe. The project also interfaces very effectively with current and future LINXS Themes. As of the end of 2024, 14 researchers have been recruited at the AMBER partner institutes (Lund University, MAX IV, and ESS in Lund, Sweden, EMBL (Grenoble, Heidelberg, Hinxton), the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France, Leicester University in UK, and IMol in Poland); recruitment calls continued in 2025 to fill all 47 postdoctoral positions.

As always, these achievements would not have been possible without the enthusiastic support of the LINXS staff, LINXS SAB, the LINXS Board, and the LINXS communities within and without Sweden: your continued engagement and participation is key to the existence of LINXS and to the way it develops in the future! We are also, of course, very grateful to our stakeholders for their support and overview as well as to the Crafoord Foundation for a key contribution at the inception of LINXS, and to the LMK foundation for funding that connects scientific activity at MAX.