The upcoming 16th International  XAFS16 International Conference on X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (www.xafs16.org) will be held in Karlsruhe/Germany, August 23-28, 2015.

A 1-day symposium (organized within the main conference) entitled “Current and future opportunities for X-ray spectroscopies at XFELs”, will  provide a broad overview of the current status and challenges for various types of X-ray spectroscopies at the recently operational X-ray Free Electron Laser Facilities (XFELs), including XAFS, non-resonant and resonant XES. The emphasis will be given to ultrafast time-resolved X-ray spectroscopic studies exploiting the unique and unprecedented brightness and ultrashort pulse duration of these 4^th generation light sources exploiting both soft and hard X-radiation. It will also highlight the future opportunities for X-ray spectroscopies in the context of the rapidly improving XFEL technology. 

We are now in the process of finalizing details of the symposium program and we would like to strongly encourage you to submit abstracts to XAFS16 concerning Session 17: “Spectroscopies at XFEL sources, Time-resolved and ultrafast techniques” (see the following link for a list of all topics for abstract submission: http://www.xafs16.org/26.php).

Both invited/contributed talks will be selected from the abstracts, next to poster presentations. The extended deadline for abstract submission for XAFS16 is in a few days only, March 15th, 2015.

The Workshop on Imaging with Femtosecond Electrons and X-ray pulses (IFEXS) will be held on February 1-3, 2016 at the Savoia Excelsior Palace in Trieste.

The workshop, jointly organized by CNR-IOM within the NFFA-Trieste facility programme and EPFL-Lausanne, aims to discuss the next frontier of ultrafast science regarding the advances of both electrons and photons based techniques with a special focus on the necessary cross-feeding between them.
Emphasis will be put on the complementary aspects of ultrafast electron microscopy and X-FEL based diffractive imaging techniques and on the future perspective of broadening the applicability of these tools by considering X-rays also as a chemically selective photo excitation and combining fs-X-ray beams with fs electron beams in an ad hoc modified Transmission Electron Microscope.
The program will comprise invited keynote lectures and poster presentations.
The workshop is open to all contributions (from theoretical, experimental, and simulation methods).
Deadline for submission of a two page abstract is January 7, 2016. Notification acceptance of poster presentation will be sent by January 13.
Registration is due by January 20, 2016.
Please, be advised that on-site registration will not be admitted.
On the workshop website you will find instructions for registration and abstract submission along with all relevant information about the workshop.

The Workshop Chairs
Regina Ciancio, CNR-IOM Trieste
Fabrizio Carbone, EPFL-Lausann

Photochemical reactions have tremendous scientific importance, ranging from photosynthesis to atmospheric reactions, and technologies such as sensors or displays. Due to the intrinsic complexity of photochemical reactions, they remain the least understood type of chemical process. Nonadiabatic dynamics, ultrafast time-scales, quantum effects and conical intersections are known to be important, but a detailed comprehension remains elusive. However, new experimental techniques capable of monitoring photochemical processes in unprecedented detail are appearing. This includes the development of intense-laser techniques, the construction of free-electron lasers such as the XFEL in Europe and the LCLS in the USA, new sources of pulsed electrons, advanced detection techniques, and important advances in theoretical modelling of quantum dynamics. Many of these techniques are developed by research communities not traditionally concerned with photochemistry, but provide an opportunity to shed new light on photochemical dynamics.

The themes for the meeting are:

Electronic and non-adiabatic dynamics
Attosecond processes and X-ray spectroscopy
Structural dynamics
Vibrational and condensed phase dynamics

Deadline for abstract submission: Dec. 14, 2015

Confirmed speakers include:
Prof. Dan Neumark (Berkeley), Prof. Dwayne Miller (Hamburg), Prof. Fernando Martin (Madrid), Prof. Shaul Mukamel (Irvine), Prof. Albert Stolow (Ottawa), Dr. Yann Mairesse (Bordeaux), Dr. Mike Minitti (SLAC), Prof. Artem Rudenko (Kansas), Prof. Andrew Orr-Ewing (Bristol), Dr. Junko Yano (Lawrence-Berkeley)

A full research paper containing new unpublished results always accompanies oral presentations at Faraday Discussions. The oral/paper abstract should outline current research in progress. Authors of the selected abstracts must then submit a full research paper with a significant amount of new, unpublished work by 11 April 2016. The research papers and a record of the discussion are published in the journal Faraday Discussions (Impact factor 4.606).

If you are not familiar with the format of Faraday Discussions we suggest you visit the conference website (http://tinyurl.com/ouqlfqj). We look forward to your submissions.

Best regards,
Adam Kirrander and Russell Minns on behalf of the Scientific Committee (Jon Marangos, Nina Rohringer, Olga Smirnova, and Peter Weber)

The scientific workshop: “Massive Computation for Ultrafast Molecular Breaking” (MACUMB 2017) will be held in the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain) on 25th and 26th of May 2017.

The scientific program (http://www.macumb.info/programme.html) includes ten invited talks that will be combined with two 3-hours practical sessions in computer rooms. We aim to bring together developers of the state-of-the-art scientific software in the field of quantum chemistry and molecular physics.

Registration is already open and closes on May 15^th, 2017. The registration for the meeting is free for all participants.

You can find detailed information at http://www.macumb.info/

Organizers:
Alicia Palacios, Sergio Díaz-Tendero and Jesús González-Vázquez
Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

The CECAM workshop Seeking synergy between dynamics and statistics for non-equilibrium quantum processes will be held in Paris in June 6th-9th.

One of the major difficulties in achieving an accurate theoretical descriptions of non-equilibrium processes in quantum mechanical systems is framed by the desire to provide a representation of the system of interest that is as realistic as possible, in a manner that is computationally tractable. The coupling of electronic and nuclear motion involving excited states, the quantum nature of the nuclear degrees of freedom, and the application of time-dependent driving forces, are just few examples of the effects that must be addressed in order to simulate these processes. Each of these effects poses unique challenges to theoretical progress. A number of exact and approximate quantum dynamics techniques are being developed and refined in order to provide algorithms that respond to the demand for a balance between computational efficiency and physical accuracy. Currently available techniques are typically based upon two different, but equivalent, formulations of many-body quantum mechanics, the wave function approach or the density matrix picture.

The proposed workshop aims to bring together the two principal molecular quantum dynamics communities (wave-function methods and density matrix approaches). The scope is threefold, (i) to identify and explore common goals and obstacles, (ii) help in fostering new ideas to connect these approaches, and bridge the apparent gap between approximate dynamical and statistical descriptions, (iii) identify possible routes to extend dynamics approaches to the domain of statistics.

At the workshop, experts are asked to uncover the fundamental details of the methods in pedagogical lectures. These lectures will be followed by extensive discussions, during which contributed speakers and participants are welcome to put forth some of their doubts and problems in the relation between dynamics and statistics.

Further information can be at:          https://www.cecam.org/workshop-1483.html

Preliminary invited speakers are:

Nandini Ananth (Cornell University, USA) Sara Bonella (CECAM, Switzerland) Irene Burghardt (Goethe University, Germany) Eitan Geva (University of Michigan, USA) E. K. U. Gross (Max-Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Germany) Raymond Kapral (University of Toronto, Canada) Dvira Segal (University of Toronto, Canada) Jeremy Richardson (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) Graham Worth (University College London, UK)

The two ICPEAC satellite meetings:

• The 25th International Symposium on Ion Atom Collisions (http://atom.curtin.edu.au/isiac)
• International Symposium on (e,2e), Double Photoionization and Related Topics with the 19th International Symposium on Polarization and Correlation in Electronic and Atomic Collisions http://atom.curtin.edu.au/e2epol

still welcome abstract submissions until the end of April. The confirmed invited speakers are available at the respective Scientific Program links.

We look forward to your participation,

Alisher Kadyrov, Chair of ISIAC

Igor Bray, Chair of (e,2e)-pol

The Femtochemistry (FEMTO13) Conference will be dedicated to the Legacy of Professor Ahmed Zewail.

FEMTO13 will take place in Cancun, Mexico, from August 12th to 17th, 2017. At the conference there will be a Mini-Symposium of Zewail Alumi, and there will be a Mini-Symposium where The 6th Ahmed Zewail Prize in Molecular Sciences will be awarded to Professor Michael Grätzel from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland.

The venue will be the Marriott Resort Casamagna Cancun, located on the beach near Cancun city and not too far from the Maya city of Tulum.

We invite you to visit us @ http://femto13.unam.mx/ to explore our list of outstanding invited speakers and exciting scientific program.

Marcos Dantus and Jorge Peon

If you have any questions or you would like to see our first circular email  us directly at femto13@chemistry.msu.edu

The next Joint Iberian Meeting on Atomic and Molecular Physics IBER 2017 will take place in Barcelona, Spain from September 12 to 14, 2017.

IBER is the biannual conference organised jointly by the Atomic and Molecular Physics Specialised Group (GEFAM) of the Spanish Royal Society of Physics and the Portuguese Society of Physics.

The main purpose of this series of IBER conferences is to bring together scientists of Iberian community dedicated to Atomic and Molecular Physics and related areas of to facilitate the interaction and exchange of knowledge between their research groups. Researchers and scientists from all over Europe and the world are invited to attend this conference and share knowledge. The conference will be structured in three days with plenary lectures, invited lectures, oral presentations and a poster session.

For detailed information and registration please visit:

http://iber2017.com

Specific topics of IBER include:

• Quantum Physics and Chemistry
• Experimental Techniques and Applied Physics
• Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy and Structure
• Biomolecules and Biophysics
• Clusters, Nanoparticles
• Surfaces and Condensed Phases
• Dynamical Studies of Elementary Processes
• Femtochemistry and Laser Control

List of Confirmed Speakers

M. Alcamí, U. Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
V. Aquilanti, U. de Perugia (Italy)
A. Bergeat, U. de Bordeaux (France)
F. Calegari, U. of Hamburg (Germany)
M.L. Carvalho, U. Nova Lisboa (Portugal)
D. Clary, Oxford University (UK)
B. Costa Cabral, U. Lisboa (Portugal)
L.M. Frutos, U. de Alcalá de Henares (Spain)
P. García Jambrina, U. Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
P. Jönsson, Malmö högskola, Malmö (Sweden)
U. Manthe. Universität Bielfeld (Germany)
T. Martinez, Stanford University (USA)
B. Maté, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain)
E. Narevicius, Weizmann Institute (Israel)
J. A. Paixão, U. de Coimbra, (Portugal)
M. J. Ramos, U. de Porto (Portugal)
O. Roncero, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain)
D. Shalashilin, U. of Leeds (UK)
S. Willitchs, U. Basel (Switzerland)

Registration is now open. The deadline for early-bird registration is July 6th while abstract submission will be open until June 9th. Please  mark your calendars.
Approximately 10-12 contributions will be selected for oral communications. The participation of young researchers and students is particularly welcome.

We looking forward to welcoming in Barcelona!

With best regards

The Organising Committee at Universitat de Barcelona,
Antonio Aguilar Navarro (Chairman)
Margarita Albertí Wirsing
Miguel González Pérez
Fermín Huarte-Larrañaga (Secretary)
Estefanía López Marne
Josep Maria Lucas

Departament de Ciència de Materials i Química Física
Secció de Química Física
Institut de Química Teòrica i Computacional de la UB (IQTCUB)
Universitat de Barcelona