The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) is the most powerful synchrotron radiation source in Europe. ESRF was created by an International Convention, signed on 16 December 1988 and is a French Societé Civile subject to French law. ESRF is financed, supported and shared by 22 European countries, Israel and South Africa. ESRF has about 700 staff with the prime mission to operate a portfolio of 40 specialised world-class instruments covering a wide range of scientific areas such as physics, material sciences, lifesciences, geophysics, archaeology, cultural heritage and many other areas to its large user community of more than 6,000 researchers annually travelling to Grenoble.