From left to right: Zahra Hazami, Patrick Krkotic, Xènia García, Imran Khan, Anna Mandziak, Nerea Bernado and Isidro Crespo. Last photo: PhD students, Francis Pérez, Caterina Biscari and Miguel Ángel García Aranda.

Last Friday 5th October, the 2nd ALBA Early Stage Researcher Day was celebrated, where several projects were presented in areas such as experimental studies as well as accelerators development.

In this occasion, 7 PhD students presented their projects linked to a wide variety of research fields.

Zahra Hazami, in collaboration with the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), summarised the status of the development of a solid state amplifier for the 3rd harmonic cavity for ALBA. Patrick Krkotic, also in collaboration with with the UPC, described his project for the Future Circular Collider, focused on the surface impedance of high-temperature superconducting coated conductors and requirements for their use as beam screen materials. After him, Xènia Garcia showed her research about the inverse catalysts for CO oxidation, in association again with the UPC. Next, Imran Khan, talked about the development of electrically conductive nanocomposites for additive manufacturing, in collaboration with the Institute Politechnic Leiria. Anna Mandziak, presented her PhD in ultrathin antiferromagnetic oxides with tunable properties, done in collaboration with Instituto Física Química Rocasolano. Nerea Bernardo explains her study about antibiotic resistance. Finally, Isidro Crespo, in association with the Wageningen University and Research, talked about his study of the molecular and structural biology of auxin response factors involved in plant growth.

The event was chaired by the heads of the Experiments and Accelerators divisions, Miguel Ángel García Aranda and Francis Pérez. It also counted with the presence of the ALBA Synchrotron director, Caterina Biscari, who highlighted that ALBA is not only a user facility, but also a researcher institution. She also acknowledged their participation and the opportunity "to learn new things" and congratulated them for their current work in ALBA.