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Several pages of information are now being made available here (as they become available):

• General Information
• Registration, Accommodation, Meals, & Form
• Scientific Program & Timetable
• Abstract Submission & Posters
• Bursary Application
• Commercial Exhibition
• University of York & Car Parking
• IG Quantitative Analysis Competition

The on-line scientific program will be updated on a continuing basis: additional details will be added when organisers and program speakers make additional information known.

General Information

2003 BCA Spring Meeting

The BCA Spring Meeting will take place at the University of York from Tuesday 15 April to Thursday 17 April 2003. The Spring Meeting will now run for three full days - the same amount of science, but only two nights accommodation are required. One-day registrations are also on offer for the first time!

The Spring Meeting will take place in the University of York's Exhibition Centre which is part of the main Heslington campus (map, building no. 14), a 200-acre landscaped park. The conference facilities at the University of York (local map) are amongst the best in the country, offering state of the art facilities for both delegates and exhibitors. The accommodation is of a high quality and is a short walk from the Exhibition Centre. All scientific sessions, poster sessions, and a commercial exhibition will take place in the exhibition centre. An excellent guide on how to get there is available on the University of York web site.

The Commercial Exhibition will run from Tuesday 15 April to Thursday 17 April 2003. For more information on the Exhibition and Sponsorship opportunities, please contact the BCA Administrative Office.

The BCA Administrative Office will manage all administrative issues. Any queries should be directed to Euan Woodward, the Project Manager.

The BCA Council is pleased to announce that One-Day Registrations will be available at the Spring Meeting in York.

The University of York

The University of York was founded in 1963 with 200 students in two city-centre locations and Heslington Hall. Now in its 39th year, it has expanded to over 9000 students and has over 30 academic departments and research centres.

York boasts several major attractions including the stunning Cathedral, an award-winning Railway Museum, and the famous Jorvik Viking City. For further information on the University of York and the town itself, please visit their website: http://www.york.ac.uk/ .

Car Parking

Car parking is available in car parks Campus West and Campus South. Please note however that car parking at the University of York is not free.

Car parking permits can be purchased in advance at a cost of £2.00 per day, a saving of £1.00 per day on "pay & display" rates.

Registration, Accommodation, Meals, & Form

Registration

The registration fees are as follows:

Please note that the deadline for early registrations is 10 March 2003.  ALL registrations received after this date will be charged the late registration rate.

Accommodation

Two types of accommodation are available at The University of York:

All accommodation is located in James College, a short walk from the Exhibition Centre. Breakfast and dinner will be served in Goodricke College, located close to James College.

Please note: En-suite accommodation is limited and will be allocated on a first come basis, so early registration is recommended.

Meals

Morning coffee (on Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 April) and afternoon tea (on Tuesday 15, Wednesday 16, and Thursday 17 April) will be served in the exhibition area, close to all lecture theatres.

A packed lunch (sandwich, biscuit, packet of crisps, piece of fruit, and soft drink) will be served in the exhibition area between 12.30 and 13.30 on each full day of the Spring Meeting. Please note that lunch will be ticketed and must be booked in advance.

Breakfast and dinner (including the conference dinner) will be served in Goodricke College.

Lunch and Dinner must be booked in advance.

Registration Form

The registration form is available on-line as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file (bca03reg.pdf).

Please do not forget to send your payment with your form.

Printed versions of the form were supplied with the December 2002 issue of Crystallography News, and are available on request from the BCA Administrative Office (for those without access to a printer).

Abstract

Submission of abstracts will be electronic only. The BCA is grateful to Chick Wilson at RAL for hosting the abstract service and preparing the abstract booklet. For instructions on abstract submission, please visit the URL: http://www.isis.rl.ac.uk/bca2003/. If you have any queries concerning abstract submission, then please email: [email protected].

The deadline for abstract submission is 28 February 2003.

Posters

More information on poster presentations and poster boards are now available.

Bursary Applications

As for previous years, bursaries are available for this meeting to cover the cost of registration, two nights basic accommodation, and food (3 lunches, 1 dinner and conference dinner). Further information on how to apply is given in the BCA members web pages on Bursaries.

Commercial Exhibition

A record breaking commercial exhibition is an important feature of the Spring Meeting. At York we have 14 exhibitors confirmed with some exhibiting for the first time. Prime positions have seating areas overlooking a lake and feature some of the largest display spaces ever seen at our meetings (see floor plan (PDF file)).

Exhibitors include:

This is the only meeting in the UK this year which gives you the opportunity to update your product knowledge from such a diverse range of suppliers. Registration, refreshment breaks, lunch and the posters are all in the exhibition area. With one day registrations on offer, can you afford to miss this exhibition? The excellent scientific sessions are the bonus that warrant the full three days of your time!

Social Events

On Tuesday 15 April 2003, the Posters/Exhibitors Reception will be held in the Exhibition Centre from 19.00 hrs. Delegates will have the opportunity to chat with exhibitors and poster presenters in a relaxed, informal setting. This is included in the registration fee.

The Conference Dinner will be held on Wednesday 16 April at 19:30 hrs in Goodricke College at a cost of £30.00 per person (reduced to £15.00 for students).

A fun run around the campus is being planned for the 2003 BCA Spring Meeting. It will be sponsored by Rigaku/MSC and will follow the general form of their popular event which has become a regular feature of ACA meetings.

Further details will be available shortly before the meeting, from Harry Powell at [email protected].

Scientific Program

The scientific sessions for the 2003 BCA Meeting will continue last year's emphasis on "hot-topics" in the field of crystallography. The programme will cover a large range of interesting sessions including High Through-put, Databases and Data Mining, which is the topic of the 3 hour plenary session and two 4.5 hour parallel sessions, which should be of interest to all groups. These sessions will form the basis for the 2003 BCA Review Symposium issue of Crystallography Reviews. Crystallography is very important in the advancement of technology (e.g. in the area of magnetic, optical, semiconductor materials) and there is a 3 hour session on Crystallography for Technology this year. To probe materials deep into the bulk there are advantages in using High Energy Diffraction and 3 hours are devoted to this subject. Crystallography has always been concerned with the molecular structure and when a good single crystal cannot be grown powder diffraction is the only feasible method, so again in York we will have sessions on Structure Solution from Powders (3h) and a Discussion on the Rietveld Method (1h). Quantitative Phase Analysis is a very important tool for industry, e.g. for the analysis of cement and metal ores, and there are 6 hours covering this subject. We have sessions on the complexities of modeling and interpreting data from structures with more than one independent formula unit Structures with Z'>1 (1.5h) and the advances in the use of Synchrotron Radiation (1.5h) for structure determination.

At York there is a Max Perutz Memorial Lecture to be given by Venki Ramakrishnan and also the long established prize lectures. As usual we are also running workshops at this conference with more interactive presentations on Introduction to Powder Diffraction (1.75h) and a series on Phase Identification (4h). There are also workshops on the CCP4 (1.5h) and the CRYSTALS (3h) software. Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are an important part of the BCA activities and the new DIAMOND SIG (0.75h) is becoming established along with the Education SIG (0.75h). The posters, as always, are an important part of the BCA conference and as usual to give greater coverage we will be running the popular Oral Poster session and in the evening you can scrutinize the Posters (3h) with a glass of wine in your hand!

Much of the activity in the world of crystallography is covered by this conference and with its new condensed format this is an event you should not miss!

Details of individual sessions are available by clicking on the timetable below or by downloading the full program (in a format which is suitable for printing).

Scientific Timetable

Details of individual sessions are available by clicking on the links within the timetable.