Utrecht University: EXCITE receives 5 million euro Horizon 2020 grant

Utrecht University is leading a consortium of fifteen European facilities specialised in electron and X-ray microscopy. Their EXCITE project received a 5 million euro H2020 INFRAIA grant. The consortium will use this grant to establish a European research infrastructure with focus on science and technology surrounding earth-materials.

A research team from Utrecht University, including Veerle Cnudde external link, Oliver Plümper external link, Richard Wessels external linkand Geertje ter Maat external link, have secured funding for their EXCITE project (Electron and X-ray microscopy Community for structural and chemical Imaging Techniques for Earth materials ). The three-year project, consisting of fifteen partners from nine European countries, will start on May 1st 2021.

The EXCITE starting community aims to enable access to high-end microscopy facilities and to join the knowledge and experience from the different partners. By doing so, EXCITE will develop community-driven technological imaging advancements that will strengthen and extend the current implementation of leading-edge microscopy for research on earth-materials.

The EXCITE strategy is to integrate joint research programmes with networking, training, and transnational access activities, to enable both academia and industry to answer critical questions in earth-materials science and technology. As such, EXCITE will build a community of highly qualified earth scientists, develop correlative imaging technologies and provide access to world-class facilities to researchers and industry.

“EXCITE is a true team effort. It already started during the planning of the proposal when people from different disciplines and career-status came together. Expanding this teamwork across Europe, to bring cutting-edge science and technology to the European geoscience landscape, is truly exciting,” Oliver Plümper responds when asked about EXCITE.