About the Conference
It is our pleasure to welcome you to the 36th edition of the European Crystallographic Meeting - ECM-36 which will take place in Prague, Czech Republic, August 23-28, 2027.
ECM is a well-established conference series of the European Crystallographic Association (ECA, www.ecanews.org). Modern crystallography is an interdisciplinary subject covering structural biology, pharmacy, and chemistry to physics, and materials science. It can also be called structural science. It includes the study of protein structures and also crystals structures and microstructures of minerals, new functional materials, nanoparticles, bulk materials, and thin films. It is also interested in the relationship between the structure and function of materials. Important related topics are development of instrumental techniques for structural characterization of materials including large facilities XFELs, synchrotrons and neutron sources, but also continuous improvement of laboratory equipments, development of optics, better and faster detectors. The core methods of crystallography are X-ray and neutron scattering. However, mainly in the last decade, it includes electron diffraction and microscopy, NMR and different spectroscopies. This development also allows investigation of structural changes under extreme conditions such as high and low temperatures, high pressures, time-resolved studies, different in-situ experiments in external fields (magnetic, electric) and chemical reactions.
Main Topics
Main topics are given by ECA Special Interest groups (SIGs) and General Interest Groups (GIGs)
SIG01 Macromolecular Crystallography
SIG02 Quantum Crystallography
SIG03 Aperiodic Crystals
SIG04 Electron Crystallography
SIG05 Mineral and Inorganic Crystallography
SIG06 Instrumentation and Experimental Techniques
SIG07 Molecular Interaction and Recognition
SIG08 Powder Diffraction
SIG09 Crystallographic Computing
SIG11 Crystallography Under Extreme Conditions
SIG12 Crystallography of Functional Materials
SIG13 Molecular Structure and Chemical Properties
SIG14 Dynamics, Disorder and Diffuse Scattering
SIG15 Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage
SIG16 Magnetic Crystallography
GIG01 Young Crystallographers
GIG03 Senior Crystallographers
GIG03 Education in Crystallography
About the Organizers
The main organizer is the Czech and Slovak Crystallographic Association (CSCA, https://www.xray.cz). This association publishes its own crystallographic journal Materials Structure and organizes annual meetings (www.xray.cz). The CSCA has organized several international conferences in the past. It began a series of Size-Strain meetings in 1995, organized the European Crystallographic Meeting (ECM-18 in 1998, with 1200 participants), the European Powder Diffraction Conference (EPDIC-IX in 2004, 330 participants), XTOP - the X-ray topography and high-resolution konference (2004 in Prague, 2016 in Brno, 150 participants), Aperiodic 2015 (Prague, 130 participants), the International Conference on Crystallization of Biological Macromolecules (ICCBM-16, 2016, 200 participants) and mainly the 25th General Assembly and Congress of the International Union of Crystallography (about 500 real and 1200 virtual participants). In 2024 we organized 11th European Conference on Residual Stresses (ECRS-11) with 200 participants and 15 exhibitors. During these meetings, we succeeded to put together an organizing team of enthusiastic colleagues and volunteers having now invaluable experience. For larger meetings we collaborate PCO Auletris (http://www.auletris.com).
About Prague and Prague Congress Centre
We are inviting crystallographers from all over the world to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic and one of the principal European cities with a long history. Its original medieval monuments are attractive for visitors from any part of the world and its modern infrastructure makes it easily accessible and friendly. The congress will take place in the modern and well-equipped Prague Congress Center that has already hosted several large congresses, the largest of which were NATO Summit in 2002 (8,000 participants), the Annual Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group (17,000 participants), and some international medical conferences. The center has five halls for 400 3,000 people and 8 rooms with capacity of about 100 people (http://www.praguecc.cz ).
The total number of meeting rooms is 50 and exhibition space covers 13000 m2. The conference center is located within a walking distance from the city center and offers a magnificent view of the
historical part of the city including the Prague Castle.
Praha has an accommodation capacity of about 100,000 visitors. There are almost 800 guest rooms in 4 or 5 star hotels in the immediate vicinity of the congress centre. Many other hotels and dormitories in all categories and prices from 20 to 200 EUR per day are easily accessible via public transport in less than 30 minutes. Our frequently running and comfortable Metro ensures very fast transport from any part of Praha.
About registration system
We are using Conftool registration system that has already been used for IUCr2021 and ECRS-11.
Sponsorship invitation
Different possibilities are offerred for companies - exhibition, commercial lectures, sponsoring.
Radek Kuzel, conference chair