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A full research paper containing new unpublished results always accompanies oral presentations at Faraday Discussions.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 Authors of the selected abstracts must then submit a full research paper with a significant amount of new, unpublished work by 11 April 2016.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 4th  XLIC General Meeting (COST Action CM1204) will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, on March 14-16, 2017. It will also host the final XLIC Management Committee (March 14) and the 3rd Young Scientist Forum (YSF).

ABSTRACTS:
Deadline for the submission of abstracts is January 31st, 2017. Abstracts should be written in English and uploaded via the online form.

REGISTRATION:
Interested participants must register before February 14th, 2017, by filling the corresponding form.  All meeting participants must pay a conference package (including lunch, dinner and coffee) for the days attending the meeting. To proceed with the payment, please, fill, sign and send to reservation@hotelpyramida.cz the following form.

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM
The conference will consist of lectures given by invited speakers, Young Scientist Forum and 2 poster sessions.
NEW: The draft full scientific program, including timetable, talks and list of poster contributions can be downloaded here: XLIC_GM_2017-ScientificProgram (the most updated version should be checked in the meeting website: http://www.jh-inst.cas.cz/xlic2017/programme).

3rd YOUNG SCIENTISTS FORUM:
There shall be a special half-day session with talks given by young researchers (PhD students and post-docs) on March 15. It will include 12 lectures, out of which 6 oral contributions will be chosen by YSF committee based on submitted abstracts. The deadline for abstract submission for YSF was 31^st January 2017.
Applicants asking for the talk at YSF are also required to submit a short CV which is to be emailed to xlic2017@jh-inst.cas.cz. Abstracts submitted after the deadline will not be considered for the selection.
For more details see http://www.jh-inst.cas.cz/xlic2017/home and  http://www.xlic.eu. You can also contact A. Domaracka (domaracka@ganil.fr).
Selected YSF speakers can ask for financial support from XLIC COST Action.
NEW: The list of young researchers selected to give a talk has been published here: https://xlic.qui.uam.es/?p=3369

ACCOMMODATION:
Due to all-under-one-roof format of the conference, accommodation is also available: both single and double rooms for the price of 65 EUR/night. To book your room, please, fill, sign and send to reservation@hotelpyramida.cz the following form before February 14th, 2017.
More information can be found in the meeting website: http://www.jh-inst.cas.cz/xlic2017/accommodation

FINANCIAL SUPPORT:
The participation of  XLIC MC members and speakers will be supported with Action budget (with the exception of MC Observers coming from IPC Institutions). COST will also fully reimburse those young researchers selected for oral contributions in the Young Scientist Forum and, depending on the budget, we will try to cover also expenses from other young participants.
Participants entitled for reimbursement will receive an official notification before the meeting. We strongly recommend to check the COST rules for reimbursement before incurring any expense in:

• COST Vademecum, page 20-24, and /or
• the instructions on how to fill the Travel Reimbursement Request Form (TRR)

Accommodation and meal expenses will be reimbursed on the basis of flat rates. A reduction on maximum flat rates allowed for this particular meeting has been agreed by XLIC MC. The applicable rates are 100 EUR for accommodation and 20 EUR for meal expenses. For participants staying in cheaper hotels less money can be claimed  by requesting the reimbursement for a smaller number of nights/meals.
For travel expenses actual costs can be claimed on the basis of the receipts provided (any restriction applying to travel expenses will be notified to each participant entitled for reimbursement).

IMPORTANT:
Participants selected for reimbursement are kindly asked to keep their expenses as low as possible to ensure a wide distribution of the Action budget.
The submission of claims shall be done after the meeting, but, for any non-regular expense or doubt you may have, please, better ask in advance (info@xlic.eu). E.g. fligths departure/arrivals from/to places other than where the eligible participant is working/residing, extra meals, nights, taxi expenses, etc. shall not be reimbursed if permission is not requested before the meeting.
Please note that claims submitted later than 30 days after the meeting shall not be considered.

The International school on “The Frontiers of Attosecond and Ultrafast X-ray Science” will be held from 19th to 28th March 2017 in Erice, Sicily, Italy.

The primary objective of this new school is to educate the next generation of scientists who will impact the future of attosecond and ultrafast x-ray science. We anticipate that the school will meet on a regular basis every two years and become a foundation for the ultrafast community. Consequently, the main topics of the course are the following: (i) attosecond science and technology, devoted to the generation and application of attosecond pulses to the investigation of electronic dynamics in atoms, molecules, nanostructures and condensed phases; (ii) fundamentals, methods and applications of free electron lasers, synchrotron radiation, ion collisions in atomic and molecular science. Lectures will cover current developments in theory and experiments but are also intended to give the basics of the field.

Please note that, PhD students and post-docs willing to attend the school can apply for scholarships (deadline 30 January 2017). For more details see: http://www.erice-attosecond.it/registration

The school co-organised by XLIC COST Action and sponsored by Politecnico di Milano, Italian Ministry of Education and Scientific Research, Sicilian Regional Parliament, ELI-ALPS and Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture.

The organizers,

Louis Di Mauro, Alicja Domaracka, Mauro Nisoli and  Sergio Martellucci

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

Molecular reaction dynamics has become an integral part of modern chemistry and is set to become a cornerstone for much of the natural sciences. Molecular reaction dynamics is the study of elementary processes and the means of probing them, understanding them, and controlling them. It can be applied to reactions in solution and to reactions on surfaces, exploring the elementary steps in catalysis. Nowadays chemistry requires a molecular level understanding of the reactivity. Moreover, chemical kinetics in an old discipline (born in 1850) that deals with the rates of chemical reaction and how these rates depend on factors such as concentration and temperature. Although it in principle presents a macroscopic point of view, this can be directly related with the molecular point of view. Thus, kinetic or dynamic Monte Carlo simulations allow us to bridge the gap of many orders of magnitude in length and time scales between the processes on the molecular scale and the macroscopic kinetics.
The present school is open to European master and PhD students and postdocs with interest to understand chemical reactions at molecular level and to apply the theoretical and computational chemistry to this matter. First-year students of the Erasmus+ Master European in Theoretical Chemistry and Molecular Modelling will attend to this school as a part of their mandatory subjects although second-year students of this Master but from the rest of Europe it is expected that can attend too. Last year (2017) we made by first time this school and it was very successful.

The school will cover the principal aspects of the kinetics and dynamics of chemical reactions, centred mainly in the theoretical and computational approaches, although some experimental techniques will also be explained.

Registration deadline: March 9, 2018

More Information at https://www.cecam.org/workshop-1529.html

The CECAM workshop entitled ‘Non-adiabatic quantum dynamics: From Theory to Experiments’ (https://www.cecam.org/workshop-0-1638.html) will be held at CECAM HQ in Lausanne, Switzerland from 2nd-6th July 2018.

This workshop aims to consolidate the rapid development in the field of molecular quantum dynamics and increase the synergy between experimentalists and theoreticians in this area. The program features a number of invited presentations from leading theoreticians and experimentalists and will be supplemented by a number of talks selected from submitted abstracts.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to Lausanne.

Tom Penfold on behalf of all of the co-organisers.

The ESPA 2018 (11th Congress on Electronic Structure Principles and Applications) will be held in Toledo, Spain on 17-19 July 2018

ESPA is a series of international conferences covering all aspects of Theoretical Chemistry from methods development to application to different fields.

The Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Universidad de Castilla la Mancha and APQTC (Asociación para la Promoción de la Química Teórica y Computacional), the organizers of this conference are delighted and honored to host this ESPA conference in the historic city of Toledo, World Heritage Site, during the summer of 2018.

Registration will open in January 15, 2018.

More information here: http://www.espa2018.com