Access to EXCITE : a European infrastructure to promote electron and X-ray microscopy of earth materials

Understanding earth materials is essential for the creation of a sustainable, carbon-neutral society. Earth materials control the feasibility of subsurface energy storage, geothermal energy extraction, and are a source of critical elements for future-proof battery technologies. To tackle the current, pressing scientific questions related to sustainable development for a circular economy, there is an urgent need to make multi-scale, multi-dimensional characterisations of earth materials available to a broad spectrum of earth-science disciplines. Besides society-relevant topics, the properties of earth materials determine how the Earth works on the most fundamental level. To overcome this challenge, 15 European institutes joined forces to establish EXCITE, providing free-of-charge access to 24 state-of-the art microscopy and x-ray tomography facilities in Europe. EXCITE can help you gain insight into the processes governing the behavior of the Earth crust through microchemical analyses and 2D- to 4D imaging, and down to nanometer resolution. In particular, the EXCITE strategy integrates joint research programs with networking, training, and trans-national access activities, thereby enabling both academia and industry to answer critical questions in earth-materials science and technology. EXCITE is building a community of highly qualified earth scientists, develops correlative imaging technologies providing access to world-class facilities to particularly new and non-expert users that are often hindered from engaging in problem-solving microscopy of earth-materials. EXCITE is building a community of highly qualified earth scientists, develops correlative imaging technologies providing access to world-class facilities to particularly new and non-expert users that are often hindered from engaging in problem-solving microscopy of earth-materials. Access to EXCITE can be requested by applying to our bi-annual call. Interested? Have a look on the EXCITE website (https://excite-network.eu) – and apply!