The InnovaXN round 2 students were brought together on 19 October 2021 for a series of presentations to introduce the programme. Ed Mitchell, Caroline Boudou, Luce Chabert, Henry Fischer and Gary Admans represented the ESRF and ILL organisers of the InnovaXN programme.

Ed and Caroline described how the two facilities work with industry, and highlighted the role of the students as ambassadors to industry, making the link between their research at the facilities and applied research in industry. Henry described the ILL graduate school and how the 40 InnovaXN students are subset of a group of over 100 students at the facilities, for which various events will be organised throughout the year. Luce and Gary introduced the programme and gave details of specific aspects such as training and ethics. The students were encouraged to sign up for optional training events such as the HERCULES European School. A final presentation described the course of an example PhD project and aimed to give the students tips on how to overcome some of the challenges that they may face in their own projects.

InnovaXN Round 2 students, and a few Round 1 students, watching the presentations in the ESRF auditorium.