Consortium

Build on the expertise and tools developed in several earlier European networks dealing with theoretical spectroscopy, in
particular the EUSpec COST Action, the ETSF (European Theoretical Spectroscopy Facility) and CECAM
(Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire).

PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS

 CNRS is France’s largest research organization, and the largest European one in  terms of publications. CNRS was awarded the HR Excellence in Research (HRS4R) label in 2017. The Institut de Physique de Rennes (UMR6251) is a joint  CNRS-Université de Rennes-1 research unit covering several areas of physics with 86 researchers for a total of 183 staff members. It publishes about 120 articles a year and awards around 15 PhDs every year.

  • Dr Didier Sébilleau (DN coordinator, supervisor Researcher1, multiple scattering modeling, ) 50 %
  • Prof. Mariko Dunseath-Terao (multichannel R-matrix method, numerical methods, code development) 25 %
  • Dr. Kevin Dunseath, R-matrix method, code development, machine learning, 25%
  • Dr Sylvain Tricot, code development and modelling of experiments, 20%
  • Dr Thomas Jaouen, photoemission experiments, 20%

New Technologies – Research Centre (NTC) is one of the parts of the University of West Bohemia, CR. NTC focuses on research and solutions for green technologies and advanced materials in the fields of ecological energy sources, smart transportation means and the quality of human life and health. The team focusing on advanced materials looks for materials with unique properties, which will find applications in the field of optoelectronics, spintronics, nanomechanics, microsystem technology and also photovoltaics. The team combines theoretical and experimental methods.

  • Ján Minár, Assoc. Prof. and leader of CEDAMNF at UWB, will coordinate WP5 and supervise Researcher2. (30% of FET). 
  • Laurent Nicolai, Dr. and Rostislav Medlin, Dr., leaders of ARPES lab and SEM lab at UWB. Both will provide basic experimental training of ESRs. (20% of FET during the experimental training for ESRs.) 
  • Ondřej Šipr, Dr., who has partly time employment at the UWB, will be involved in WP2 and will be co-supervisor of Researcher2. (20% of FET).

The University of Liège is now 200 years old and one of the main universities in Belgium. It hosts a full spectrum of ten faculties with 45 departments, including medical and engineering schools. UL is home to 20000 students (of which 4600 foreign students), 3000 academic staff, and 2000 PhD students. UL is in symbiosis with a local science park focusing on materials, IT, and space technologies, and with the University hospital, which has a strong profile in genetics and pharmaceuticals. The University has pioneered open access repositories and has a full roster of elearning and soft skills training sessions. ULiège received the award “HR excellence in research” (HRS4R) from the EU Commission in 2011.

  • Prof Matthieu Verstraete will supervise 1 PhD project (R3), and coordinate WP3. Taking into account teaching and other grant commitments, 20 % of his working time will be devoted to the project. He will commit to consortium management, dissemination and outreach, and training activities, in particular the coding workshop organized at UL. 
  • Bertrand Dupé is a permanent research fellow of the Belgian FNRS, specializing in first principles calculations and magnetic dynamics. He will co-supervise R3 with 10% of his working time and contribute to activities in WP1.

 Aalto University is a Finnish multidisciplinary university in the fields of science and technology, economics, architecture, and art and design. Aalto University employs 366 professors and has a student body of 20 000. It has been recognized as the best university in Finland for engineering and technology. Research in the Department of Applied Physics focuses on condensed matter and materials physics, quantum physics, and nano optics, with topics extending from fundamental research to important applications, and on advanced energy sciences. For the future, special emphasis is given to quantum technology and engineering, and database-driven machine learning in materials research.

  • Prof. Dr. Patrick Rinke (theoretical spectroscopy and machine learning for spectroscopy, supervisor of R4 and coordinator of WP2). He will devote 30% of his time to the supervision and training of the ESRs recruited by Aalto under EUSpecLab. 
  • Dr. Milica Todorović (machine learning in materials science) will devote 25% of her time to supervising R4 and secondments as well as to machine learning training. 
  • Dr. Dorothea Golze (theoretical spectroscopy with GW) will devote 20% of her time to developing the FHI-aims code as well as training activities on theoretical spectroscopy.

The University of Camerino, founded in 1336, ranks first in the ranking of Italian small (< 10000 students) universities (CENSIS, Ranking 2021). UNICAM received the award “HR excellence in research” (HRS4R) from the EU Commission in 2010. The School of Science and Technology (SST) is characterized by high scientific interdisciplinarity that fosters the aggregation of different competences (Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geology, Mathematics). Within the SST, the Physics Division has a longstanding and solid scientific reputation being currently ranked among the best Italian research Institutes of Physics.

  • Angela Trapananti: Associate Professor of Experimental Physics. X-ray absorption spectroscopy, x-ray scattering experiments and data analysis. Supervisor of Researcher 5.
  • Roberto Gunnella: Associate Professor of Experimental Physics. Head of the Surface Science group. X-ray and electron spectroscopies for energy materials. He will provide basic experimental training of Researchers.
  • Andrea Di Cicco: Full Professor of Experimental Physics. Head of the Physics Division. Coordinator of the PhD in Physics, Earth and Materials Science at UNICAM. Training on XAS data modelling and code development.

Uppsala University is a comprehensive research-intensive university with a strong international standing. Our ultimate goal is to conduct education and research of the highest quality and relevance to make a long-term difference in society. Our most important assets are all the individuals whose curiosity and dedication make Uppsala University one of Sweden’s most exciting workplaces. Uppsala University has over 54,000 students. The Division of Materials theory is part of the Department of Physics and Astronomy which was ranked no. 45 in the World Shanghai ranking in 2021. The Division of Materials theory at UU currently hosts about 70 researchers, with expertise ranging from electronic structure theory,  pin-dynamics simulations, theoretical spectroscopy, correlated electron physics and dynamical mean field theory.

  • UU will lead WP1 and focus on spin related properties of organic/inorganic interfaces, and spectroscopy calculations which will include development. The group of Materials Theory will be responsible for ab initio electronic structure calculations and simulating soft x-ray spectra. R6 will be supervised by Dr. Heike C. Herper who plans to commit 30% FTE to this project each.

The Technical University of Denmark was founded in 1829 by H.C. Ørsted – the father of electromagnetism. DTU hosts 11.200 students and 2000 academic staff members distributed over 25 departments. It is ranked 49 on the Leiden scale (publications in Top10%) among European Universities and 1st among the Nordic countries. The DTU-Physics department is focusing on physics areas of fundamental interests and with clear application and innovation potentials. DTU Physics has the main responsibility for the Physics and Nanotechnology education and for the Introductory Physics course for the majority of DTU’s students. The PhD school at DTU-Physics counts around 80 students distributed over 4 departments. About half of them are international. K. S. Thygesen is heading the section Computational Atomic-scale Materials Design (CAMD) which is one of 8 sections representing the research themes at the Physics department. 

  • Prof. Dr. Kristian Thygesen (spectroscopy of quantum defects, supervisor of R7). He will devote 20% of his time to the supervision and training of the ESRs recruited by DTU under EUSpecLab. 
  • Ass. Prof. Mikkel Schmidt will co-supervise R4. Prof. Jakob Schiøtz and Prof. Stig Helveg will assist in relevant ESRs with their expertise on (machine learning of) transmission electron microscopy images

Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) offers a wide range of academic subjects in the areas of humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and medicine. The oldest and largest university in Saxony-Anhalt was created in 1817. Today the university has around 20,000 students (amongst them 1,875 international students) and 340 professors. The core scientific research is in Materials Science and Biosciences. MLU is member of the Central German University Alliance Halle-JenaLeipzig and has a broad-reaching network of partner universities throughout the world. It also cooperates closely with external research institutes and industries. MLU is hosting several national and european research training programmes and permanently offers specific PhD-student related training curricula and activities through its International Graduate Academy

  • Prof. Dr. Miguel Marques (machine learning for spectroscopy, supervisor of R8). He will devote 20% of his time to the supervision and training of the ESR recruited by Aalto under EUSpecLab

Software for Chemistry & Materials B.V., SCM, is an independent spin-off company of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), The Netherlands, employing approximately 25 highly-educated people. SCM develops, maintains and markets the Amsterdam Modeling Suite, used by computational (quantum) chemists, physicists and materials scientists in academia and industry. It includes different modules covering a broad range of time and length scales as well as their respective graphical interfaces and Python scripting environments and workflows.

SCM has its office space on the VU campus, and we also collaborate extensively with many academic groups and household-name industrial partners worldwide. The working atmosphere at SCM is that of an informal team of PhDs and PhD students doing intellectually challenging work. SCM is a science-focused company which has been around for over 25 years. It is financially solid, growing, and profitable. SCM is located in Amsterdam, the very lively, enjoyable and internationally oriented capital of The Netherlands.

  • Dr. Stan van Gisbergen (SVG) (h-index 32, 41 publications, 14340 citations, http://www.researcherid.com/rid/I-4354-2012, 5% FTE). Scientific staff working on the network will further include Dr. Erik van Lenthe (10% FTE) and 
  • Dr. Matti Hellström (10% FTE) (research and software development). All are experienced (15+ years since Master title) on SCM’s permanent staff.
  • Prof. Dr. Evert Jan Baerends (h-index 103, 389 publications, 62607 citations, http://www.researcherid.com/rid/F-7206-2011), co-founder of SCM and Emeritus professor at the Theoretical Chemistry department of the VU University Amsterdam, will also be able to share his expertise. 

The Vienna University of Technology (TUW) is the biggest educational institution in Austria with a permanent staff of about 3000 and typically 30.000 Students; TU Wien has eight faculties: Architecture and Planning, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Computer Sciences, Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Mathematics and Geoinformation, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, and Physics.

  • Prof. Wolfgang Werner Professor, Surface Science, coordinates the project @TUVienna. Expertise on experimental electron beam techniques and spectroscopy with correlated electrons, as well as modelling and deconvolution of experimental spectra.

Associated Partners

The Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) is a research institute for natural and engineering sciences, conducting cutting-edge research in the fields of matter and materials, energy and the environment and human health. By performing fundamental and applied research, we work on sustainable solutions for major challenges facing society, science and economy. PSI develops, constructs and operates complex large research facilities. Every year more than 2500 guest scientists from Switzerland and around the world come to us. Just like PSI’s own researchers, they use our unique facilities to carry out experiments that are not possible anywhere else. PSI is committed to the training of future generations. Therefore about one quarter of our staff are post-docs, post-graduates or apprentices. Altogether PSI employs 2100 people, thus being the largest research institute in Switzerland.

 

Centrum dohody s.r.o (CEDO) provides professional services in the areas of soft skills trainings, managerial trainings, coaching and meeting facilitation. The company has experience with managerial programs, corporate change projects, corporate culture analyzes and with helping to eliminate barriers in cooperation and team communication. CEDO individually prepares employees on all levels for demanding negotiations and important presentations. Important part of CEDO activities is facilitating difficult and complicated negotiations. The clients include industries (Skoda, Mitsubishi, Prazdroj), finance institutions (Erste, Raiffeisen), IT companies (T-Mobile, AVG), state institutions (Grant Agency of Czech Republic, Ministry of defence) and NGO’s (Charitas, Sananim).

Key Persons and Expertise:  Alice Hamplová, M.A.: General Manager, psychologist, 20 years of experience with management, with consultations in the area of leadership development, managerial skills and team cooperation and with leading training programs for PhD students in natural sciences. Lukáš Rumlena, Mgr. Senior consultant, coach, long-terms managerial experience, experience with projects improving corporate culture, leadership and self-organisation skills, positive thinking etc. He also presents at international conferences and moderates and facilitates at challenging meetings in the Czech Republic as well as abroad.

EMMI is a European network in materials research, including academic and industry partners. EMMI’s main objective is the creation of collaborative projects in Materials Research and Education. The projects typically make use of complementary know-how among the partners. Multi-disciplinary cooperation between engineers, chemists, physicists, biologists, etc. is particularly fruitful. EMMI provides an infrastructure for information exchange, including internal and external communication tools, databases and organisation of conferences, schools and meetings. We also develop roadmaps and strategic guidance for future research. Our members also offer their know-how and equipment for synthesis, characterisation and modelling of materials as services to external partners. EMMI was created in the framework of the European FP6 Network of Excellence FAME (Functional Advanced Materials and Engineering of Hybrids and Ceramics). FAME initiated a number of very successful research collaborations and educational projects. http://www.emmi-materials.cnrs.fr/ 

Key Persons and Expertise: Prof. Dr. Jean Etourneau will coordinate the interaction between EMMI and EUSpecLab (5% of his time). The distributed EMMI network will contribute an estimated average of 20% of a full time schedule, to support the ETN activities and provide input and resources from the EMMI Masters and PhD programmes. The EMMI counts 19 core members in France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, and the UK.

Pinflow Energy Storage, s.r.o. is a Limited Liability Development Company (with status of SME) with five cofounders spun out from New Technologies-Research Centre (University of West Bohemia) in October 2017 to commercialize the technology of vanadium redox flow battery. The company was founded by a balanced team of experienced scientists, engineers and start-up managers with 8 years of experience in the field of redox flow batteries. Pinflow develops and manufactures vanadium redox flow battery components and systems. The stacks operate at a current density of 150 mA cm-2 with 83% DC-DC efficiency. Moreover, Pinflow is manufacturing verified reliable systems for R&D and quality control of active materials for redox flow batteries (more than 100 systems installed worldwide) together with advisory in electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering

Key Persons and Expertise: Dr. Jaromír Pocedič is working in New Technologies-Research Centre at the University of West Bohemia as a researcher in the field of energy storage. He was leading technical manager of vanadium redox flow battery scale up. In 2017 he was co-founding Pinflow energy storage, s.r.o. and based on his broad experience within electrochemical engineering he is responsible for product development of research systems. Dr. Jiří Vrána’s work is mainly focused on electrochemical engineering aspects of the scale-up process of vanadium redox flow batteries. For his work, he obtained an Award of the Ministry of education youth and sports of the Czech Republic. Since 2013, he is working as a researcher in the Laboratory of Energy Storage (NTC UWB). He has initiated the commercialization of VRFB results and in 2017, he was co-founding startup Pinflow energy storage, s.r.o. where he is responsible for business development and management for battery and stack integration. Dr. František Moulis has broad industrial experience gained in Innogy Gas Storage, where he worked as geochemistry project specialist in field of natural gas quality monitoring and from Honeywell where he was dealing with legislation of CE marking in personal protective equipment.

RVmagnetics company is based on over 20 years of world-class research realized in Slovakia in the field of magnetism and magnetic materials, chairman and founder Rastislav Varga and his closest associates. Development of smart miniaturized contactless sensors and actuators based on modern magnetic materials in combination with other physical phenomena (e.g.magnetocaloric, shape memory…). 

Key Persons and Expertise: Prof. Rastislav Varga, DrSc., magnetism, magnetic materials, magnetization processes, magnetic sensors and actuators. Over 150 WOS publications. 6 PhD finished

The VU University has about 30,000 students and more than 2,000 staff members. There is a close collaboration with the University of Amsterdam, e.g., in the area of computational chemistry (Amsterdam Center of Multiscale Modeling). The Theoretical Chemistry group comprises 6 permanent staff members and about 20 scientists on project basis (postdocs, Ph. D. students). The group’s interests span a diverse range of topics ranging from density functional theory development to the study of complex molecular systems (structure, reactivity, spectroscopy).

Key Persons and Expertise: Prof. Dr. Paola Gori-Giorgi is an expert in the development of approximations in density functional theory (DFT). She has worked on functionals for strong correlation, on combining DFT with wavefunction theory, and on dispersion interactions. She has also established a link between DFT in the strong correlation limit and the mathematical field of optimal transport. Prof. Dr. Lucas Visscher (LV) (h-index 47, 166 publications, 6245 citations, https://publons.com/researcher/1195042/lucas-visscher/) is a well-known specialist in incorporating the effects of relativity in quantum chemical methods. Another research line concerns subsystem density functional theory. Profs. Gori-Giorgi and Visscher will supervise the scientific aspects of the work of the ESR hosted at SCM and act as promotors for the thesis defense.

The University of Toyama is a university comprised of 3 former national universities; Toyama University (founded in 1949), Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University (founded in 1975) and Takaoka National College (founded in 1983) were integrated in October 2005. This integrated university houses 9 faculties, 8 graduate schools, the University Laboratory, Hospital, and Library, and 12 institutes such as the Center for International Education and Research. There are approximately 9,300 students (including 300 international students) studying at the university.

Key Persons and Expertise: Prof. Keisuke Hatada, Associate professor in physics, a specialist of multiple scattering theory. He will co-supervise a PhD student (Researcher 5). Prof. Hiroyuki Ikemoto, Professor in physics. A specialist of nano materials and the X-ray absorption technique. Dr. Yuji Matsumoto, Assistant professor in physics, a specialist of sample preparation and characterisation techniques of heavy Fermion systems.etc.

Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena (FSU) was founded in 1558 as one of the oldest universities in Germany, and is a member of the prestigious COIMBRA group. FSU is structured into ten faculties with a staff of more than 8,000 and over 18,000 students and cooperates with more than 200 universities and research institutions in 26 European and 29 non-European countries. The fields of optics and photonics are at the heart of research, education and industry in Jena. The long history of outstanding research in optics and photonics has led to Jena’s high international reputation as the “City of Light”. The FSU is hosting the Institute of Solid State Theory and Optics (IFTO), which is a renowned center for the development of theoretical and numerical methods and their application in condensed matter/materials science, linear and nonlinear optics and plasmonics.

Key Persons and Expertise: Prof. Dr. Silvana Botti will collaborate with MLU on the supervision of Researcher8 and contribute to the research work for WP2, 

training, dissemination and outreach activities. She will devote 10% of her time to research and training activities planned under EUSpecLab

Toyota operates 64 manufacturing companies across 28 countries globally, and markets vehicles in more than 160 countries, thanks to the support of a 340,000-strong workforce. Toyota began selling cars in Europe in 1963, has invested over €7 billion since 1990 and currently directly employs some 20,000 people here. The European operations are supported by a network of 30 National Marketing and Sales Companies in 53 countries, around 3,000 retailers, and nine manufacturing plants. Toyota Motor Europe (TME) (http://www.toyota-europe.com) coordinates the European activities of the Toyota group. Within TME, the Technical Centre (Zaventem) is the location for the Research & Development (R&D), Purchasing and Production Engineering (PE) functions. From here Toyota ensures its cars match European customer’s demands. R&D undertakes body, powertrain, chassis and electronics design and evaluation, supported by a strong network of local suppliers. Within the Advanced Technology division, the Material Design Unit is responsible for the development of novel materials for energy efficiency improvement through a MS simulation and design process. Key pillars of this activity are: lubrication, exhaust gas catalyst, FC and hydrogen storage. This unit has significant experience with MD, CFD modelling and ML methods applied on meso-scale system databases that correlate molecular properties of systems with their tribological or hydrogen storage performance.

Key Persons and Expertise: Dr. K. Gkagkas is responsible for the simulation activities in the Advanced Material Research Division, with the aim to bridge atomistic simulations with macro-scale applications. Over the years, he has been responsible for a significant number of new concepts spanning from novel drivetrain concepts to advanced lightweight materials, developed in collaboration with leading European universities and institutions. 

RINA Consulting – Centro Sviluppo Materiali S.p.A (CSM), is a RINA Company mainly devoted to the Steel and Heavy industry and materials End Users such as Oil&Gas and Power Gen and Automotive. Its activities are mainly related to: new materials, assessment of materials and components performance, optimization and the development of innovative processes.

Key Persons and Expertise: RINA has large facilities related to materials characterization and environmental treatments. As regard materials characterizations includes labs and pilot plant facilities on: Chemical; StressCorrosion and Electrochemical; Small and full-scale Mechanical; Creep and Creep-Fatigue; Metallographic and Electron Microscopy; Heat Treatment and Thermomechanical Simulators; High Temperature Chemistry; Surface Engineering and Tribology; Metal Forming; Welding

Scienta Omicron is an instrument development company in the research areas of fundamental material physics and surface science. We are serving the top scientist at universities and institutes across the world with instrumentation like electron analyzers, deposition systems, light sources, scanning probe microscopy instruments, services, and a lot more. We have local sale & service teams in Europe, North America, China and Japan.

Key Persons and Expertise: Dr. Anders Hahlin (Development Manager ESPEC): Anders Hahlin holds a doctorate in physics (2003) from Uppsala University in Sweden. Anders started at Scienta Omicron (by then Gammadata Scienta) at 2005 as a test/installation engineer and has worked himself through the Scienta Omicron organization as both Service Manager, Development Engineer and now presently as Development Manager. Anders has a broad experience in the field of Materials Research and Instrumentation related to Electron Spectroscopy

The University of Basel, founded in 1460, is the oldest University of Switzerland with over 13 000 registered students of which 55.7% are female. The Physics Department and the Swiss Nanoscience Institute are active in the fields of Quantum and Nanoscale Science. The University of Basel is operated by the Kanton (State) and the city of Basel. It regularly ranks among the 100 top universities in the world in international rankings, thanks to its research achievements. Interdisciplinary nanoscience and quantum technology is among the five strategic focal areas of the university. The University of Basel is an experienced host institution regarding European research funding programmes and has been involved in more than 270 FP7 and H2020 projects including 51 ERC grants and 100 Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions, of which 31 MSCA doctoral training networks and 63 MSCA postdoctoral fellowships.

Key Persons and Expertise: Prof. Dr. Thomas Jung and the Nanolab Team (two postdocs) are available at up to 30% each to perform research, training and supervision of R11 and secondments. The scientific staff is supported well by mechanical and electronic workshops an engineer and two shared technicians

Université de Rennes 1 (UR1) is internationally acknowledged as one of the top scientific universities in France. Research at UR1 is organized along four major domains, corresponding to four graduate schools: Mathematics & ICT, Life Sciences, Materials Science, and Humanities & Social Sciences. The Institut de Physique de Rennes (IPR) is a joint research unit (UMR6251) associating CNRS and Université of Rennes 1. UR1 will deliver the diploma of the PhD candidate hosted at IPR (recruited by CNRS).