Skip to main content

Overview school

Powder Diffraction and Rietveld Refinement School 2026

We are hoping to run the Durham Powder Diffraction and Rietveld Refinement school in April 2026, Probable dates are 13-17th April.

Applications will open in Autumn 2026. If you’d like to be contacted when registration opens please fill out the form here. We’ll do our best, but can’t guarantee this.

The course will include a mixture of lectures, small group tutorials and hands-on computer exercises.

Topics to be covered will include:

  • Data collection strategies for X-ray and neutron diffraction
  • Constant wavelength and time of flight diffraction
  • Modelling peak shapes
  • Indexing powder patterns
  • Rietveld, Le Bail and Pawley fitting methods
  • X-ray and neutron combined Rietveld refinement
  • Extended solids and molecular systems
  • Restrained refinements
  • Rigid body refinements

Magnetic refinements will not be explicitly covered.

The school organisers support the IUCr’s statement on gender balance. Since the school’s inception in 2000 we have striven to bring together young scientists from around the world from a range of difference scientific disciplines. The discussions amongst attendees from different cultural and scientific backgrounds gives the school a stimulating learning environment. Where possible, we ensure that the balance of delegates accepted on the school matches that of suitably-qualified applicants, and typically have approximately 50% female delegates attending.

Accommodation will be at Collingwood College Durham, lectures will be on the Durham science site. Durham is on the fast east coast rail track. London is ~2.75 hours and Edinburgh 2 hours. There are a number of cheap flights to Newcastle Airport (e.g. flybe to Exeter/Southampton; Easy Jet to Bristol/Stanstead/Geneva/Nice, etc). More travel information can be found here.

For more information please email [email protected].

If your company would like to sponsor the school please contact us.