Representatives from Elettra, the University of Trieste, the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), Monash University, Melbourne, and CSIRO, Australia’s national research institution, met on 11 February at ICTP to discuss a proposal for the establishment of an International Consortium for Advanced Imaging Physics (ICAIP) at ICTP.

The proposed consortium will seek to build a front-line international collaborative framework that can bring the best possible scientists together under the auspices of ICTP in Trieste. It will also incorporate the expertise of other local institutions, particularly the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics, Sincrotrone Trieste and the University of Trieste. In addition, the activities of the consortium will tap into current ICTP programmes, especially those related to applied physics and condensed matter physics.

Scientists from developing countries will benefit through schools and courses in advanced imaging, including experimental activities at the INFN-ICTP Laboratory and Elettra. India and Brazil are developing capabilities in advanced imaging with synchrotron radiation and, with the support of the proposed consortium, could act as regional resource centres for less developed countries. An imaging beamline is also being planned for SESAME, the synchrotron facility being built in Jordan with support from UNESCO and the European Union.

ICTP is organising an international meeting in June 2005 to discuss how imaging systems can help solve critical problems related to human health, environment protection and industrial processes.

The meeting at ICTP on 11 February