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The conference typically covers the latest and most exciting topics in atomic physics, chemistry, applied sciences, quantum materials, and electron dynamics. HAXPES stands for Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, a method that allows scientists to examine the chemical composition and characterize the electronic structure of materials using hard X-ray radiation. In simple terms, HAXPES helps scientists look "inside" materials to determine what they are made of and their properties.

This year's main organizers were Ján Minár from the NTC Research Institute at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Anna Regoutz from University College London, Vladimir N. Strocov from the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, and Marc Simon from Sorbonne University and CNRS in France. Marc Simon also serves as the chair of the International Advisory Board and Program Committee of HAXPES. During the conference, the committee met in a hybrid format and selected the venue for the next HAXPES conference, which will take place in Oxford in two years.

The conference was opened by the rector of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Miroslav Lávička, followed by a welcome and program overview by Ján Minár. Throughout the event, attendees listened to 51 presentations and viewed 57 posters. The conference also included an exhibition section with sponsors such as MB Scientific AB, Scienta Omicron, and SPECS GROUP. “I am very pleased that distinguished speakers such as Alex Gray from Temple University, Andrea Severing from the University of Cologne, Jessica McChesney from Argonne National Laboratory, and Oksana Travnikova from CNRS, among many others, accepted the invitation to the conference,” said Ján Minár from NTC.

Five young researchers received a financial award of 500 EUR for their outstanding scientific work. The Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena, published by Elsevier, sponsored two awards for the best posters. The first prize, the Charles Fadley Award, recognizing outstanding contributions to fundamental research explored through HAXPES, was awarded to Olena Fedchenko for her poster "Valence-transition-induced Changes of the Electronic Structure in EuPd2Si2." Olena is from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Institute for Physics. The second prize, the Yasutaka Takata Award, recognizing advancements in instrumentation or methodology associated with HAXPES, was awarded to Goro Nozue from Osaka University for his poster "Hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy on magnetic Au-Al-Gd quasicrystal approximants."

The awards for the best oral presentations, sponsored by SPECS GROUP, were given to Stefania Riva for her work "Tracking interfacial photovoltage and band alignment in perovskite solar cells using operando HAXPES" from Uppsala University, Constantin Wansorra for his presentation "Are calculated partial photoionization cross-sections good enough for HAXPES applications?" from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), and Atsushi Hariki for his lecture "Atomic multiple and charge-transfer effects in 1s and 2p core-level hard X-ray photoemission spectra of correlated 3d transition-metal oxides" from Technische Universität Wien and Osaka University, Graduate School of Engineering.

“In addition to the exchange of knowledge, such conferences are also a great opportunity for networking and strengthening the community - in this case, the community of researchers in spectroscopy. For this reason, we prepared a rich accompanying program for the participants. Guests visited Pilsner Urquell Brewery, Teplá Monastery, and Mariánské Lázně. The feedback on the conference was very positive, and we believe that the memories participants take away will rival those from previous events held in Paris and Himeji,” concluded Ján Minár.