Group photo of participants at the 12th Workshop on Accelerator Operations (WAO).
Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona), 13th October 2021. About 100 participants from twenty different countries from all over the world have attended the 12th Workshop on Accelerator Operations (WAO). The event, organised by the ALBA Synchrotron, was originally planned to be held in Barcelona in 2020. However, the spread of Covid-19 pandemic and consequent uncertainties forced the local committee to organise it virtually.
The workshop has taken place between the 5th and the 8th of October 2021 from 14:00 to 18:00 h (CET) to favour the participation from different regions. Plenary sessions have been devoted to discuss about the first reactions to the pandemic, the particularities of running a particle accelerator during Covid-19 times and the lessons learnt through all this period. During the first day of the workshop a poster session was held, with the presentation of twelve posters. Parallel discussions were organised the second and third day of the workshop. A virtual visit to the ALBA facility has also been organized to enable the participants to know in detail the ALBA accelerators, its current status and future upgrade plans. At the end of each day, the participants had the opportunity to chat informally.
The exchange of ideas and sharing of best practices among participants was very positive and brought new light to common questions in the accelerators' operation. How much remote operation will be kept after the pandemic, or the way that machine learning and artificial intelligence can help optimize operation were some of the talks presented at the Workshop. Topics that raised the interest of the participants during the parallel discussion sessions were the training of operators, the existence of a career path development for operators or automation versus operators' skills.
The organizing committee would like to thank the collaboration of the sponsors who have contributed to the workshop: AWGE technologies, BTESA, CADINOX, ELYTT ENERGY, SEVEN Solutions, TECNOVAC, TELEDYNE SP DEVICES and TTi.
Members of the organising committee Montse Pont and Ferran Fernández welcoming participants the first day of the workshop.
At the left, one snapshot of the parallel discussions held during the workshop. At the right, the virtual tour at the ALBA facility.
