The BIST Winter School on Microscopy, Nanoscopy and Imaging Sciences was held during the first two weeks of February, with a special BIST Symposium organized on February 9th as the closing seminar.

The 2018 BIST Winter School on Microscopy, Nanoscopy and Imaging Sciences was held during the first two weeks of February as part of the training program of the BIST-UPF Master of Multidisciplinary Research in Experimental Sciences. During the two weeks, the BIST Master students were given theoretical classes (lectures and research seminars held at the BIST Centres), combined with hands-on training activities in specific experimental techniques, broadly covering the following topics:

Optical Microscopy (16hrs)
Electron Microscopy (16hrs)
Scanning probe Microscopy (10hrs)
Raman Imaging and Spectroscopy (6hrs)
Imaging technology and approaches in Astrophysics / Cosmology (16hrs)

The final day of the Winter School was devoted to a closing seminar: the BIST Symposium on Microscopy, Nanoscopy and Imaging Sciences. The symposium was held at ICFO and was open to the entire scientific community of BIST as well as external stakeholders. Its program included talks and discussions on all of the topics covered during the Winter School, featuring both local and international speakers, all experts in their fields.

The symposium was a great success, with almost 200 people registered and four external sponsors contributing to the cost of the event (Izasa Scientific, Monocomp Instrumentación, S.A., Sociedad de Microscopía de España and Thermo Fischer Scientific.)

Both the BIST Master students and the speakers and attendees of the closing symposium benefited greatly from the knowledge obtained during the 2018 BIST Winter School. As Jordi Arbiol, ICREA Professor and Group Leader at ICN2 and Coordinator of the Winter School, says, “An exciting and continuously developing field, microscopy is nowadays a ‘must know’ for anyone interested in following a career in experimental sciences. Because SEEING the world is understanding…and understanding builds the knowledge of our society.”

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