IPAC19 has confirmed that there is continued significant interest in ESS within the accelerator community. ESS had a stand at the conference exhibition, as well as several posters on display in the poster sessions.
This year’s IPAC (International Particle Accelerator Conference) was held in Melbourne, Australia, with almost 1200 delegates from 42 countries. Talks were given on all aspects of accelerator physics during the five day conference, and the exhibition had more than 70 exhibitors, several of those European.
The most common questions asked at the ESS stand at earlier Asian IPACs have been 'What' and 'Where', but the trend has now shifted to 'When' and 'How is it progressing' - a clear sign that the community is more aware of ESS and the advances being made. ESS has exhibited at every IPAC since 2011, as a strategic measure to both maintain interest and support future recruitment within the field.
Noticeable from IPAC19 is that while only 15% of the delegates were female, the number of female speakers totalled 24%.
IPAC is held every year, alternating between Asia/Oceania, Europe and America. In 2017 the conference was held in Copenhagen, and was organised by ESS in collaboration with MAX IV laboratory and Aarhus university. Next year the location will be Caen in France.