Activities
In implementing its programmes, the AMD Unit undertakes several kinds of activities.
Coordinated Research Projects (CRPs) bring together scientists representing institutes in Member States to collaborate on a focused research topic that is of shared interest and is important to the mission of the Agency. A CRP is normally approved for a period of 3–5 years and involves 8–15 laboratories, research teams or institutions. Most CRPs involve three Research Coordination Meetings (RCMs) where participants are brought together. The IAEA supports the cost of the RCMs, but only very limited funds are available for direct research support, and this only for participants from developing countries.
The Atomic, Molecular and Plasma-Material Interaction Data Centres Network (DCN) is a collection of 12 national data centres for the collection, critical assessment (evaluation) and generation of fundamental data for fusion applications.
The heads of the data centres, constitute a standing Advisory Group for advising the Agency on the technical aspects of data exchange and processing. This Advisory Group holds a biennial meeting for analysis, coordination and planning of all DCN activities.
The Code Centres Network (CCN), coordinated by the AMD Unit, is a joint effort to gather and provide access to any information relevant for modelers in fusion plasma science. Its focus is on the modelling and calculation of data that are difficult to measure experimentally.
The Global Network for the Atomic and Molecular Physics of Plasmas (GNAMPP) is an initiative to bring together researchers in the area of aromic and small-molecule collisional physics to provide data for fusion-relevant applications (modelling, diagnostics and benchmarking against theory).
The IAEA AMD Unit organizes several types of experts' meetings.
These meetings differ in the allowed number of participants and the level of Agency support for participation in them. The IAEA AMD Unit organizes, on average, 4 – 6 experts' meetings each year. The proceedings and the results of each meeting is described in a Summary Report issued shortly after the meeting.
- Technical Meetings (TMs) of experts with a broad spectrum of expertise to provide advice regarding either general policy and programme orientation questions, or on specific technical issues concerning Unit's activity;
- Consultants' Meetings (CMs) of experts to obtain advice or perform a specific task related to a particular database or activity;
- Research Coordination Meetings (RCMs) are meetings of the Principal Scientific Investigators representing research groups participating in a Coordinated Research Project (see CRPs).
The IAEA organizes several Workshops in conjunction with the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste; in recent years the AMD Unit has participated in this by running an annual event to provide training and information exchange for computational scientists working on models and data for atomic, molecular and materials processes relevant to fusion energy research.
The workshops are aimed at advanced PhD students and other early-stage career researchers, particularly those from developing countries.