Crystallography matters ... more!

In keeping with our desire to continue many of the initiatives undertaken this past year, the IUCr have decided to hold an "IYCr legacy" conference in lieu of a "Closing" ceremony for the International Year of Crystallography. This conference is aimed at reviewing all the activities associated with IYCr - all that has been (and is being) done, what was successful, what was not so successful, etc. - and discussing how to transform the activities into long-term sustainable actions.

The conference, entitled "Crystallography for the next generation: the legacy of IYCr", will focus on the achievements and problems encountered during IYCr2014 in order to determine which initiatives will be worth transforming into sustainable long-term actions with benefits for the crystallographic community. Therefore, sessions will be scheduled about:

• OpenLabs (including the IUCr initiative in Africa) for 2015 and beyond, with contributions from University rectors, professors and students who attended them and from the companies that partnered the initiative during IYCr2014;
• outcomes of the Summit meetings, to see what is going on in the three targeted regions and what to do next;
• the development of the crystallographic community, where representatives of the new countries that are starting activities in the field will be invited to describe their local situations and possibilities for international cooperation, in conjunction with the IUCr Regional Associates (ACA, AsCA, ECA, LACA);
• joint programmes between the IUCr and the large-scale facilities (e.g. Cheiron school, agreements for future partnerships, SESAME);
• crystallographic education programmes (activities for schoolchildren; new educational resources; links to educational activities of related disciplines; school and academic curricula);
• crystallography and industry (connections; opportunities for the community);
• IUCr journals and other activities of the Union (recent developments and new policies).