The 7th International Workshop on Infrared Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Accelerator-Based Sources (WIRMS) will be held in Melbourne in 2013.

The 6th International Workshop on Infrared Spectroscopy and Microscopy with Accelerator-Based Sources, WIRMS 2011, was held in September 2011 in the city of Trieste, Italy, home of the Elettra Synchrotron. Held every two years, this conference brings together IR synchrotron and free electron laser scientists and users from around the world to facilitate development and collaborative research in these rapidly advancing fields. It typically attracts 90-110 delegates from the synchrotron radiation and free electron laser communities.

Interest is widespread and varied, involving scientists from disciplines as diverse as chemistry, physics, biology, engineering and geology. Topics covered at WIRMS 2011 included facility updates and beamline technical developments, microspectroscopy , time-resolved spectroscopy, extreme conditions, condensed matter, near field, imaging and high resolution techniques. Delegates were also treated to a tour of the Elettra Synchrotron and FERMI free electron laser.

Five presentations described work performed at the Australian Synchrotron IR beamlines:

• cultural heritage applications (Ljiljana Puskar, AS)
• sub-cellular biological imaging (Mark Tobin, AS)
• far IR/high-resolution IR capabilities (Dominique Appadoo, AS)
• enclosive flow cooling cell development on far IR/high-resolution IR beamline (Chris Medcraft, Monash University)
• applications of synchrotron FTIR in volcanology (Jonathan Castro, University of Mainz).

The Australian Synchrotron has successfully bid to host the next meeting, WIRMS 2013, which will be a perfect opportunity to showcase the science of the Australian Synchrotron … and koalas.