Quantitative Electron-Beam X-ray Microanalysis (SEM and EPMA) In Earth And Environmental Sciences

We are applying to run a short course in application of quantitative X-ray microanalysis (QXRM) techniques for PhD students and early career researchers (ECRs) in Earth and Environmental Science. It is based on several previously successful NERC sponsored courses, most recently in 2023 which this course largely repeats. It consists of a 3.5 day taught unit in the Electron Microbeam Laboratories of the School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, and then followed by part 2 where each participant has 2 days of one-to-one hands-on instruction in the analytical laboratories at one of Earth Science schools in Bristol, Leeds, Oxford, Cambridge or Manchester depending on the particpants' location in the UK. We will accommodate 25 students and ECRs on the course. Selection of applicants is based on evaluation by members of the course team of a brief proposal anonymised other than identifying the funding source where priority is given to NERC and other UKRI research council funded people. QXRM methods are, by their nature, complex and require users to possess a significant degree of training if the full advantages of these techniques are to be realised. UKRI, and NERC in particular, have significant investment in QXRM facilities including in this application’s host institutions. We recognise an urgent need to train the next generation of Earth and material scientists partly driven by the lingering effects of COVID on a cohort of PhD candidates, and subsequently ECRs, who missed significant on-instrument training opportunities with a consequent impact on their productivity. This results in a significant depreciation of national capability, both in terms of users who have can produce high-quality data and also end-users of published data who require an ability to interpret and filter out poor data. Importantly, there is a demand from industry for trained users, with SEM/EPMA techniques hosted by both government (e.g AWE, Aldermaston) facilities and private industry (e.g. Johnson Matthey for critical metals analyses). Furthermore, the advent of rapid mineral modal analyses via electron microscope-based systems has been widely adopted by both industrial (e.g. mining and forensic) and academic organisations. We recognise six primary training outcomes are: 1) Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental physical principles of QXRM; 2)Students will be able to design their own analytical protocols and apply to a range of multi-disciplinary projects, 3) Students will be able to model the X-ray generation within samples using complex simulation software, 4)Students can perform post-processing operations on both mapping and quantitative data, 5)Students can calculate statistical parameters, of errors and homogeneity of sample analyses; 6)Students will have an understanding of the broad applications of SEM/EPMA in industry (skill 5). In addition to the identified skills gaps, applications of QXRM cover many expanding fields of NERC’s wider science remit beyond the more conventional geosciences and indeed several other areas outside the NERC remit.