The determination of three dimensional structures of new materials is frequently the starting point for mechanistic studies, revealing structure-property relationships, modelling of molecular variants and intelligent design for specific properties. However, these are traditionally static results and although we can follow structure evolution with temperature and pressure, it is far less easy to study time evolution when the time scales of the processes involved are short. The latest high intensity X-ray sources, fast detectors, new techniques and modern software are now taking us into the regime of conducting time–resolved studies and it is this aspect of structural science that we shall be exploring during this course.

X-ray and neutron diffraction are the most powerful methods for elucidating full 3-D structures from single crystals and microcrystalline powder samples for many forms of matter. The techniques are continuously evolving enabling ever more challenging questions to be addressed and the most difficult of problems to be solved. We shall be describing time resolved studies in crystallography, spectroscopy and computation and looking also at applications of this work as well as looking forward to the future and exciting opportunities and challenges that facilities such as XFEL will bring to the field.

We shall concentrate during the course on:

1) Photocrystallography – obtaining structural information from short lived crystalline species.

2) Time resolved spectroscopy - identifying and characterising intermediates and correlating these results with structural data.

3) The future – current and upcoming developments in dynamic structural techniques.

4) Theoretical calculation – correlating with and supporting experimental studies through computational calculations.

And in addition to the lectures we shall be presenting demonstration and workshop sessions providing training in using modern computer programs in these aforementioned areas.