In the ASPIRE project, whose academic and industrial beneficiaries are world leading in their complementary fields of expertise, the overarching research goal is the measurement of photoelectron angular distributions (PADs) in the “molecular frame” (MF) of systems of biological relevance. These MF-PADs can be interpreted as electron diffraction patterns, achieved by “illuminating the molecule from within”, and enable the shapes and motions of individual molecules to be interrogated. Such knowledge is needed for the development of new medicines (the shapes of drug molecules dictate their function) and new materials (efficient solar cells can be constructed if energy dissipation processes in molecules are understood). Progress in this area is highly technologically driven, requiring high repetition rate, short wavelength light sources and fast detectors. The input of private sector beneficiaries is therefore critical to the scientific objectives, as well as to the enhanced training environment. Work packages on advanced light source and detector developments will feed into the overall goal through secondments, regular virtual meetings and face-to-face network meetings. The symbiosis of the developments that will take place in ASPIRE will create a research and training environment that is world-leading and optimally tailored to capitalise, for example, on the investment that has been made in the European XFEL facility. The ESRs will be trained in world-leading laboratories and will benefit from the exchange of best practice among beneficiaries and partners, and from unique training events. ASPIRE will therefore ensure that European research remains competitive in the global market, and that the trained researchers will be uniquely well-placed to contribute to the development of novel instrumentation in the future.

Correlative multimode imaging is the only way to reveal a composite view of a biological sample with the multidimensional information about its macro-, meso- and microscopic structure, dynamics, function and chemical composition that is required in order to understand biomedical processes and diseases. Project CLEXM addresses an urgent need to demonstrate, promote and disseminate the benefits of this technique in the fields of disease and drug therapy research and especially to early-career researchers. The premise of project CLEXM is that there is a growing need for disease and drug therapy researchers to understand the linkages between structural and functional changes that occur in a cell and to be able to observe these from the cellular (micrometre) to the molecular (nanometre) scale. Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy (CLEM) is the current state-of-the-art for achieving this, but the technique is extremely complex and slow. CLEXM postulates that the integration of a third imaging modality, Soft X-ray Tomography (SXT), into CLEM will make it easier and faster for researchers to correlate cellular structure with cellular function. Correlative Light, Electron and X-ray Microscopy (CLEXM) can be combined in a number of ways and the benefits will be demonstrated in a number of different use cases. This would be too difficult and too much to achieve as a single research project or as a single MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship, however, it lends itself to be most easily achieved as a network of complementary individual projects, under an MSCA Doctoral Network action. The overarching objective of project CLEXM is to provide high-level training in the field of correlative multimode imaging to a new generation of doctoral candidates to provide them with the transferrable skills necessary for thriving careers in a high-growth area that will aid researchers in their quest to understand disease and to develop effective therapies.

Particle accelerators are a key asset of the European Research Area. Their use spans from the large installations devoted to fundamental science to a wealth of facilities providing X-ray or neutron beams to a wide range of scientific disciplines. Beyond scientific laboratories, their use in medicine and industry is rapidly growing. Notwithstanding their high level of maturity, particle accelerators are now facing critical challenges related to the size and performance of the facilities envisaged for the next step of particle physics research, to the increasing demands to accelerators for applied science, and to the specific needs of societal applications. In this crucial moment for accelerator evolution, I.FAST aims at enhancing innovation in and from accelerator-based Research Infrastructures (RI) by developing innovative breakthrough technologies common to multiple accelerator platforms, and by defining strategic roadmaps for future developments. I.FAST will focus the technological R&D on long-term sustainability of accelerator-based research, with the goal of developing more performant and affordable technologies, and of reducing power consumption and impact of accelerator facilities, thus paving the way to a sustainable next-generation of accelerators. By involving industry as a co-innovation partner via the 17 industrial companies in the Consortium, 12 of which SME’s, I.FASTwill generate and maintain an innovation ecosystem around the accelerator-based RIs that will sustain the long-term evolution of accelerator technologies in Europe. To achieve its goals, I.FAST will explore new alternative accelerator concepts and promote advanced prototyping of key technologies. These include, among others, techniques to increase brightness and reduce dimensions of synchrotron light sources, advanced superconducting technologies to produce higher fields with lower consumption, and strategies and technologies to improve energy efficiency.