Núria Montserrat, Minister for Research and Universities, visited the experimental area of ​​the ALBA Synchrotron accompanied by the director, Caterina Biscari, and other members of the management including Klaus Attenkofer, scientific director, and Alejandro Sánchez, head of the Industrial Office. Francis Pérez, head of the Accelerators division, explained how synchrotron light is generated by accelerating electrons. The Minister visited the different beamlines and talked to some of the users' groups that were performing experiments, such as testing therapies and finding new indicators for a minoritarian disease affecting children, analysing a new catalyst for the hydroformylation of ethylene or the effect of temperature and thickness on the magnetic properties of advanced materials, among others. She also spoke with managers and users of JEMCA (Joint Electron Microscope Center at ALBA), passing by the two microscopes that it currently houses.

The meeting was completed by a series of presentations to convey to the Minister the scientific strategy and main priorities in three main areas: life sciences, materials science and magnetic and electronic structure of matter. At this point, the director of CERCA (Centres de Recerca de Catalunya), Laia Pellejà, joined the group.

In the words of Caterina Biscari, director of the ALBA Synchrotron, "having the Minister at ALBA is a great opportunity to show the current capabilities and potential of our facility as well as to engage in a enriching conversation about the needs and the future of research". The Minister highlighted how ALBA is serving the scientific community, always anticipating its needs and going ahead to obtain ambitious research results.