ESRF News December 2025

EDITORIAL

December 2025 ESRFnews

Editor

Jon Cartwright

Email jonacartwright@

icloudcom

Editorial committee

Nick Brookes

Delphine Chenevier

Jean Daillant

Andy Fitch

Michael Krisch

Gema MartínezCriado

Joanne McCarthy

Edward Mitchell

Stéphanie Monaco

Qing Qin

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Marine Duding

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ISSN 10119310

ESRF

news

On 25 August 2025, the ESRF marked five years since the launch of the Extremely

Brilliant Source (EBS). The ESRF–EBS has already proven to be a game changer for

European and global research, especially concerning some of society’s most pressing

challenges. From revolutionising biomedical imaging with whole-organ tomography to

advancing connectomics, from probing planetary interiors to understanding how toxic

elements behave in soil and plants, and from accelerating energy research to driving

industrial innovation, the EBS has opened new frontiers for science.

Meanwhile, rising numbers of proposals and high-

impact publications testify to the extraordinary

demand and enthusiasm of the user community.

In September this year, the ESRF received 1,256

beamtime applications for the 2026-I scheduling

period – an ESRF–EBS record.

Equally striking are the new standards the EBS has

set for technology and sustainability. Its innovative

multi-bend achromat lattice, and 50% reduction in

electricity consumption for accelerator operation, demonstrate how scientific excellence

can advance hand-in-hand with responsibility and efficiency.

This issue of ESRFnews celebrates five years of EBS discovery by looking to the

future, and asking users across several fields what scientific developments they believe

might be in store (p17). One particularly promising field is palaeontology, in which

groundbreaking ESRF studies are helping to unravel the origins of reptiles and

mammals (p12). We also have an insight into the ongoing training programmes that

are equipping the next generation of researchers with the skills to tackle tomorrow’s

scientific challenges (p10).

As we celebrate this five-year milestone, we warmly thank our user community and

look forward with excitement to the discoveries still to come.

Celebrating f ive years of science

with the ESRF–EBS

Jean Daillant

ESRF director-

general

In September,

we received

1,256 beamtime

applications – an

ESRF–EBS record