The organizing committee of the International Conference on Neutron Scattering 2017 (ICNS2017) welcomed the neutron community in Daejeon, Republic of Korea from 9 to 13 July 2017. There have participated several hundreds of scientists from a wide range of disciplines including physics, biology, chemistry, materials science, engineering materials, earth science, neutron sources and instruments. The importance and niche of neutrons in modern society were documented and discussed in many debates following various oral and poster presentations.

The applied research utilizing neutrons, for example, became a focus in the talk reviewing the advancements of heavily hydrogen-doped iron-based superconductors (Hideo Hosono, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, and Pengcheng Dai, Rice University, USA). Neutron scattering has played a critical role also in the studies of block copolymers that provide a remarkably versatile platform for technologies including drug delivery, imaging, catalysis, lubrication, and extraction (Tim Lodge, University of Minnesota, USA), as well as in the more complex soft condensed matter that includes bio-related systems (Victoria Garcia-Sakai, ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, UK). Another field of applied research that is well-known to the researchers from JINR and that challenges today’s traditions in rechargeable batteries is taking advantage of neutron diffraction techniques as well (Jean-Marie Tarascon, The College de France, France). The reports on new advances in neutron scattering approaches included grazing incidence small-angle neutron scattering (GISANS) that benefits from the combination of surface sensitive reflectometry and volume sensitive scattering (Peter Müller-Buschbaum, Technical University Munich, Germany). Because of the need for high-flux sources, the challenges and potentials of time-of-flight GISANS will become of high interest also in the project of a new source of neutrons in Dubna as discussed at the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics JINR.

It is important for JINR present and future neutron activities to participate at the international forums such as ICNS. It is therefore delightful to note the contributions of our researchers presented in the fields with the strong traditions at JINR. The results achieved in hard and soft condensed matter research utilizing various elastic and inelastic neutron scattering techniques were presented by several scientists of FLNP, together with a general overview of our facilities. The outreach in public relations was enforced through the gold sponsorship of JINR and by an active involvement of our staff.

Kucerka Norbert, FLNP Deputy Director