We are pleased to welcome researchers, students, and industry partners to the HPC-CONEXS Summer School and Conference 2026, taking place 1–5 June at Newcastle University. This week-long programme will highlight developments in high-performance computing, X-ray spectroscopy, theory, experiment, and machine learning. A finalised programme will follow shortly. Registration is open now!

Summer School Workshops (1–3 June)

The event begins with the HPC-CONEXS Summer School Workshops, aimed at early career researchers and students seeking to build practical skills in computational methods, data analysis, and advanced X-ray science techniques.

Workshops will include:

• Expert-led training in HPC tools and workflows
• Practical sessions linking theory and experiment
• Introductions to machine learning applications in spectroscopy
• Opportunities for discussion with academic and industry researchers

Conference Programme (3–5 June)

The conference programme will feature keynote lectures, invited sessions, and contributed talks, providing a forum to share current research and discuss emerging directions in computational and experimental X-ray science.

Programme highlights include:

• Invited sessions focused on Machine Learning, Experimental Developments, and Theory Developments
• More than ten contributed talk sessions showcasing work from early career researchers
• Two interactive poster sessions

Whether attending the full week or selected sessions, HPC-CONEXS 2026 offers opportunities to exchange ideas and build collaborations across the community.

Registration is now open!
A nominal attendance fee will apply: £20 for PhD students and PDRAs, and £50 for academic staff.

If you are a PhD student or ECR interested in applying for our travel grants, please contact Sydnee O’Brien at: sydnee.obrien@newcastle.ac.uk.

Previous Events:

CONEXS Conference: Progress and Next Steps

 26 April – 27 April 2023

 St Hilda's College, Oxford, UK

In April 2023 we held our 4th CONEXS Conference, which will discuss progress in the field and our next steps as part of the UK High End Computing Consortium. The conference had presentations from leading national and international experts on emerging trends in X-Ray spectroscopy and the intersection of experiment and theory.

CONEXS Conference 2022

Wednesday 30 March – Friday 1 April 2022

The third conference for the Collaborative Network for X-Ray Spectroscopy (CONEXS) will take place on Wednesday 30 March - Friday 1 April 2022, bringing together expert speakers from across the world to discuss the theme of 'Emerging Trends in X-ray Spectroscopy'.

Please visit the links on the left hand side of the page for more information about the event. If you have any questions, please get in touch.

The Conference Programme can be downloaded as a pdf here: CONEXS Conference 2022 final programme

A booklet of our speakers' abstracts can be downloaded as a pdf here: CONEXS Conference Abstract Booklet 2022

CONEXS Conference 2021

Wednesday 17 - Friday 19 March 2021

The programme for our 2021 virtual conference is available here: CONEXS 2021 Agenda

Recordings of Talks:

Recordings of our speakers' presentations are now available on our YouTube channel. ‌

CONEXS Conference 2020

Tuesday 18 - Thursday 20 February 2020

The programme for our 2020 event is available here: Conference Programme

Speakers' Slides:

Day 1

John Rehr, University of Washington

Andrei Sapelkin, Queen Mary University of London

Jakub Szlachetko, Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy od Sciences

Daniel Higley, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Olga Safonova, Paul Scherrer Institute 

Day 2

Tetsuo Katayama, Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute

Ben Spencer, University of Manchester

Russell Egdell, University of Oxford

Kevin Lovelock 2, University of Reading