Members of the TEMUL set out for the MSI Symposium in Sligo, from 23rd to 24th April 2018.
The symposium gathered attendees from all fields of microscopy, including electron, infrared, to light, to scanning-probe, to X-ray, and ion-beam microscopy and spectroscopy, enabling revelations of the chemical structure as well as the dynamics of materials, both organic and inorganic, down to the atomic scale.

Prof. Bangert, being the president of the Microscopy Society of Ireland, opened proceedings along with Dr Yvonne Lang of IT Sligo, who organised the symposium.
Monday hosted talks from Dr Alex Ball of the National History Museum in London, and Dr Peter O'Toole from the University of York.
Dr Ball is the head of Imaging and Analysis division in the research laboratories of the National History Museum. He talked about his work with unusual, sometimes priceless samples, where he must find the best way to put an ibis statue in a SEM, or how to 3D scan the bones of a blue whale. His research focuses on novel applications of microscopy, and how to combine different imaging types.
Dr O'Toole is the Head of Imaging and Cytometry in York. His research is primarily focussed on the development of new methods and techniques to address key biomedical questions and to help bridge the gap between light and electron microscopy.
The student poster sessions were also hosted on Monday, with Jennifer, Eileen, and Mike all bringing posters to the symposium to represent TEMUL.

Tuesday compromised of talks by members of MSI, both at post-graduate and post-doctorate levels. Talks were given by Michele, Jennifer, Eoin, and Eileen over the course of the day.
Michele gave a presentation based on her in-situ liquid work with nuclear fuels titled: "Direct Observation of Dissimilar Dissolution Behaviours in a Radiation Field: An In-Situ Study of Layered ALuminium Based Materials."
Jennifer's talk factored around her post-graduate research: "Characterisation and Categorisation Strategies for Anisotropic Gold Nanoparticles for Applications in Biology."
Eoin gave his first talk outside of the group, focusing on explaining the fuse of electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) for the use on finding bandgaps in an inorganic material to the light microscopist and biologists present.
Eileen gave a talk focusing on the comparison of simulated and experimental data for ion implanted 2D materials, like MoS2.

It's not all work and no play in the TEMUL group however, as the students managed to find a zip-wire activity course on Sunday while journeying to the confernece location.