Enhanced X(cross)-disciplinary Community-driven Imaging Technologies for Earth and Environmental material research

Project Information

EXCITE2

Grant agreement ID: 101131765

DOI

10.3030/101131765

EC signature date 27 October 2023

Start date 1 April 2024

End date 31 March 2028

Funded under

• Research infrastructures

Total cost

€ 14 360 285,75

EU contribution

€ 14 360 285,75

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EXCITE2 (Enhanced X(cross)-disciplinary Community-driven Imaging Technologies for Earth and Environmental material research)

Reporting period: 2024-04-01 to 2026-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Many of Europe's biggest challenges depend on what happens inside rocks, soils, sediments and built materials at very small scales. Where critical raw materials sit within ores and how they can be cleanly separated. How carbon dioxide reacts with minerals when it is stored underground. How pollutants and microplastics move through soils and groundwater. Why some materials hold up under stress while others fracture. What controls fluid flow in faults and subsurface energy systems. These are tiny processes with very large consequences, and the only way to study them properly is with advanced imaging.
The instruments needed for this work are expensive, demanding to operate, and unevenly distributed across Europe. EXCITE² addresses that gap by connecting a network of leading imaging facilities and opening them up to researchers everywhere. After the consortium expansion in 2025, the network brings together 22 institutes in 14 countries and 40 imaging and data processing facilities. The techniques include electron microscopy, X-ray microscopy and computed tomography, atom probe tomography, spectroscopy and spectrometry, atomic force microscopy, nanoindentation, and time-resolved 4D imaging of materials while they react, deform or change.
The main idea is straightforward. A researcher with a strong scientific question applies through a shared online system, the proposal is reviewed by independent experts, and the best applicants receive free access to the facility that is the right match for their question. Researchers without access to similar equipment at home are given a fair chance, and early-career scientists are actively encouraged to apply.
Alongside access, the project builds an online learning community with webinars, workshops and an open knowledge hub, so users can prepare well and learn from one another. It works on making imaging data easier to find, share and reuse, in line with European Open Science policy. It also develops new services including remote data processing, artificial intelligence tools for image analysis, and time-resolved imaging at synchrotron facilities. Together, these activities support the European Research Area, build capacity for the green and digital transitions, and train a new generation of problem-solving researchers.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the first half of the project, EXCITE² moved from start-up into full operation. A central project office was set up, a governance structure was put in place, and four open access calls were launched and reviewed. The response from the research community was strong. In total, 475 applications were received and 407 projects were awarded access, an overall success rate of around 86 percent. The awarded projects represent 3185 access units, with 3123 delivered by the end of the reporting period.
The user community is diverse and international. Around half of the awarded applicants were early-career researchers, and around half had never used the relevant facility before. Around one in three came from countries where similar equipment is not available at their home institution, and around one in five came from outside the European Union. Women and men are represented in broadly similar numbers among awarded applicants. A total of 70 awarded projects use more than one installation, meaning researchers are actively combining techniques to study the same material in different ways.
Beyond the access programme, a wide set of supporting activities was delivered. A regular webinar series was launched and has built a worldwide audience, with around two thirds of registrants new to the network. Two major training workshops were held, one on multi-scale imaging in 2025 and one on particle science in geo-imaging in 2026. A public knowledge hub on the project website brings together guides to instruments, sample preparation, data processing software and analysis techniques.
The project also made strong progress on data sharing. A data management plan, a clear data policy for users, and practical guidance on publishing imaging data were prepared. The network worked closely with the European Plate Observing System on shared tools and a community survey to make geo-imaging data easier to find and reuse.
New services came online. Remote data processing was rolled out at several partners and built into the access calls, so researchers can keep working with advanced software after their visit. A new release of an open-source artificial intelligence tool for analysing chemical maps was published. Time-resolved synchrotron imaging experiments captured dynamic processes such as carbonation in steel slags, fault healing, permafrost thawing and fluid-driven fault reactivation, providing direct visual evidence of how Earth materials behave under realistic conditions.
Engagement with industry, society, policymakers and other research infrastructures was active. Two industry-academia workshops were organised, a public engagement exhibit called the Discovery Dock was co-created with audiences at a university museum, and a strategy on the long-term future of the network was prepared.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

EXCITE² goes beyond what was previously available in three connected ways.
First, it offers a single coordinated route into a wide range of complementary imaging techniques. Most existing access schemes give researchers access to one type of instrument at one facility. EXCITE² makes it possible to plan a multi-technique study across several facilities through one application. For Earth and environmental materials, where structure, chemistry, properties and dynamic behaviour often need to be studied together, this integrated route is a meaningful step forward.
Second, the project is improving how imaging data is published and reused. Imaging datasets are typically large, heterogeneous and complicated to describe, which makes them hard to share in a genuinely useful way. The network developed practical recommendations on file formats, metadata, persistent identifiers and licences, and is working with a European data infrastructure to design better search tools. The aim is to move from one-off publication of figures in articles toward reusable datasets that can be analysed again by people who were not part of the original project.
Third, the service offer is being extended in ways that conventional access cannot match. Remote data processing lets researchers continue working with proprietary software and high-performance computing after they leave a facility. Artificial intelligence tools developed within the network help researchers analyse very large datasets more quickly and reproducibly, including automated chemical mapping and segmentation of complex 3D images. Time-resolved synchrotron imaging makes it possible to observe mineral reactions, fault slip, ice formation and fluid flow as they happen, rather than only inspecting the end result.
Taken together, these advances increase the problem-solving capacity of the wider research community working on climate, energy, raw materials, environment, and the durability of natural and built materials.