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The Integrated Infrastructure Initiative for Neutron Scattering and Muon Spectroscopy (NMI3) comprehensively integrates all aspects of neutron scattering and muon spectroscopy in Europe. It is actually a cornerstone of the European Research Area, making significant contributions to the science research base that underpins European technological development.
The NMI3 brings together 23 partners from 14 countries, including 11 research infrastructures, together with other interested organisations. The NMI3 advances the integration of the field, and the effective use and development of these research infrastructures, by providing:
• 4 Networking Activities to widely disseminate the results, expand the user community and plan for the future
12 Access activities offering approximately 5000 beam days of access to 150 instruments, for 1700 users who carried out almost 900 projects.
• 8 Joint research activities on enhanced instrumentation and techniques, involving 50 research groups.
Networking Activities have helped...
... to spread the results
Central web site: The European neutron and muon Portal; a ‘one stop shop’ for information regarding neutron scattering and muon spectroscopy: news, forums, mailing list with more than 600 registrations, calendar of events, picture gallery, library and ...
... the Neutron Pathfinder giving access to a database of more than 120 neutron instruments in European centres, that are open to external scientists. The Pathfinder allows the new user to identify the neutron instruments that are normally used in certain fields of work. Besides this, the pages provide general information about how neutrons work and on the main neutron methods. The project has been developed by NMI3 and KFN, the German Committee Research with Neutrons, in collaboration with the main European neutron facilities.
Advertising
4 leaflets reporting NMI3 work has been distributed with the Italian journal ‘Notiziario Neutroni e Luci di Sincrotrone’.
12 Advertisements on Neutron News.
Regular articles on NMI3 activities have been published on the italian journal and the Neutron New.
Connection to other I3. I3 net
Meetings of the NMI3 General Assembly
More than 12 meetings have been held...
... to expand the use of neutron scattering and muon spectroscopy in Europe
More than 400.000 euros will finally have been devoted to training activities.
8 call for proposals have provided support for 34 schools and 37 workshops, including the most prestigious European neutron and muon schools. An online evaluation reveals the high quality of these events: the attendees reported overwhelmingly (94%) that the activities met their expectations, describing them as very good (41%) and excellent (42%) (See the report). The attendee profiles cover the full spectrum of researchers, from postgraduate students to postdoctoral researchers, and academics.
... to plan for the future
NMI3 has supported a series of foresight studies organized jointly by European, American and Japanese scientific institutions, to elaborate a common strategy for the development of neutron scattering.
These workshops, held in Europe and the United States, have explored the potential future role of neutron techniques in some of the most relevant areas of science: energy, earth sciences and environment, biomaterials, kinetic processes and imaging applications
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Access Activities since 2004 ...
Involving access to 12 different research infrastructures.
over 908 experiments involving 1808 unique users from 26 countries were supported. At the end of the project we will surpass our target with more than 5000 days of access to facilities supported through NMI3.
The programme is continuing to have a high impact on training in the use of neutron and muon facilities with 28% of the users in undergraduate or postgraduate education. Almost half the users are in the early stage of their career (undergraduate, postgraduate or postdoc). NMI3 is also continuing to boost the mobility of the user communities. Almost half of the users funded through NMI3 were visiting a facility for the first time.
21% of the users funded by NMI3 were female. This gender balance of the user communities continues to reflect the wider distribution of the scientific fields using the technique(s) and cannot be influenced by NMI3.
Most users still nominally work in the area of physics, with Chemistry, Life and Earth Sciences and Engineering also represented.
Joint Research Activities
The JRA activities involved a total of 51 Partners, 23 Observers and 46 Countries.
Near the end of the project more than 55 JRA meetings for the discussion and presentation of the work have been held. Almost the 37 tasks initially proposed are achived, and revolutionary neutron instrument devices have been designed and built within the framework of the NMI3 network .
JRA1 (DETNI) - Improving the image contrast: high resolution and high rate neutron detectors.
JRA2 (MILAND) - Pushing the detection limits for diffraction and reflectometry: millimeter resolution over a large area.
JRA3 (NO) - Neutron Optics: Improving the resolution of SANS using pinhole collimation.
JRA4 (NSF) - Polarising 3He: a new world record of 76% polarisation on a neutron instrument.
JRA5 (PNT) - Polarised Neutron Techniques: Towards a spin-echo time of 1 μs - high radial current density correction elements.
JRA6 (MCNSI) - Understanding neutron scattering data: the use of virtual experiments.
JRA7 (D-LAB) - Deuterium Labelling: extending the scope of neutron methods for biological molecules.
JRA8 (MUON) - Developing muon spectroscopy: instrument simulation, new detector technologies, experimental methods.
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Take a look to the NMI3 proposed aims for Joint Research Activities at the begining of the project.
See the 
NMI3 JRA Performance indicators
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Supported by the EU through FP5 and FP6