European Synchrotron Radiation Facility is the world's most intense X-ray source and a centre of excellence for fundamental and innovation-driven research in condensed and living matter science. Located in Grenoble, France, the ESRF owes its success to the international cooperation of 21 partner nations, of which 13 are members and 8 are scientific associates. As an international leader, the ESRF participates in many local, national, and international partnerships. The facility shares a physical site, called the European Photon and Neutron Science Campus, with the neutron source Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). Together, they have created a hub of excellence that has stimulated co-location of specialist laboratories such as the Institute for Structural Biology, the partnership for Structural Biology, the partnership for Soft Condensed Matter and industrial research collaborations. In Grenoble, the ESRF is also member of the GIANT campus and partner of the COMUE (University) Grenoble Alpes. Internationally, as a member of EIROforum, the ESRF works with research institutions across Europe to support the development of the European Research Area and to promote science education. The ESRF-EBS project has been highlighted as an ESFRI landmark in the 2016 ESFRI roadmap. The ESRF Director of Research for Life Sciences, Dr Jean Susini, is a member of the BioMERA-platform Scientific Advisory Committee within this project.

Key Personnel

Dr Jean Susini holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from the University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. He joined the ESRF in 1989 to work on innovative X-ray mirrors for synchrotron beamlines. In 1994 he led the design and construction of the X-ray microscopy beamline, ID21, and later was responsible for its user operation. In 2000, Jean extended the ESRF’s microscopy facilities with the development of a hard X-ray microprobe (ID22) and an infrared microscopy facility at beamline ID21. His main fields of interest are X-ray optics and X-ray imaging techniques and applications, with particular focus on environmental applications and cultural heritage. In 2009, Jean was appointed head of the Instrumentation Services and Development Division with the mission to strengthen the global leadership of the ESRF in X-ray instrumentation by the creation of an interdisciplinary centre of excellence with 130 staff working on detectors and electronics, X-ray optics, mechanical engineering, data analysis and beamline control. In 2015, Jean was appointed director of Research for Life Sciences. Jean serves on various advisory boards and review committees at an international level. These appointments have included the synchrotron facilities ALBA (Spain), Diamond (UK), IPANEMA – SOLEIL (France), NSRRC (Taiwan) and for American facilities APS, ALS and NSLS-II. Currently, he is also chairman of the Instrumentation Working Group of Eiroforum and he is a regular lecturer at the University Joseph Fourier (Grenoble) and at the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris).