The Rossendorf Beamline (ROBL) - located at BM20 of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France - is in operation since 1998. This 7th report covers the period from January 2009 to December 2010. In these two years, 67 peer- reviewed papers have been published based on experiments done at the beamline, more than in any biannual period before. Six highlight reports have been selected for this report to demonstrate the scientific strength and diversity of the experiments performed on the two end-stations of the beamline, dedicated to Radiochemistry (RCH) and Materials Research (MRH). The beamtime was more heavily overbooked than ever before, with an acceptance rate of only 25% experiments. We would like to thank our external proposal review members, Prof. Andre Maes (KU Leuven, Belgium), Prof. Laurent Charlet (UJF Grenoble, France), Dr. Andreas Leinweber (MPI Metallforschung, Stuttgart, Germany), Prof. David Rafaja (TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany), Prof. Dirk Meyer (TU Dresden, Germany), who evaluated the inhouse proposals in a thorough manner, thereby ensuring that beamtime was distributed according to scientific merit. The period was not only characterized by very successful science, but also by intense work on the optics upgrade. In spring 2009, a workshop was held at ROBL, assembling beamline experts from German, Spanish and Swiss synchrotrons, to evaluate the best setup for the new optics. These suggestions was used to prepare the call for tender published in July 2009. From the tender acceptance in November 2009 on, a series of design review meetings and factory acceptance tests followed. Already in July 2010, the first piece of equipment was delivered, the new double-crystal, double-multilayer monochromator. The disassembly of the old optics components started end of July, 2011, followed by the installation of the new components. As of December 2011, the new optics have seen the first test beam and thorough hot commissioning will be continued until May 2012, since the ESRF shuts down for a major upgrade from December 2011 to April 2012. We expect that we will be ready for user operation from June 2012 on, with a better beamline than ever. The beamline staff would like to thank all partners, research groups and organizations who supported the beamline during the last 24 months. Special thanks to the FZD management, the CRG office of the ESRF with Axel Kaprolat as liaison officer and Eric Dettona as lead technician, and to the ESRF safety group members, Paul Berkvens, Patrick Colomp and Yann Pira.