Call for 2021A General Proposals (excl. industrial application) Closed

• Please understand that there is a possibility that we cannot provide stable supply of Helium (both liquid and gas) due to the recent situation regarding global helium supply.

Contents

1. Non-Proprietary and Proprietary Research

There are two types of research at SPring-8: non-proprietary and proprietary research. Users must publish their research result in a refereed journal or equivalent (refereed proceedings, Doctoral thesis, etc.), and are exempt from paying the beamtime fee if their research is non-proprietary. For research to be considered non-proprietary, users must submit a SPring-8 Experiment Summery Report within 60 days of the completion of each experiment to make the results available to the public. As for proprietary research, submitted proposals are reviewed only from the viewpoint of feasibility, safety, sociality, and ethics by a limited number of reviewers, who have accepted an obligation of confidentiality. Proprietary research is recommended for users dealing with confidential information or experimental samples.
Users may request the Users Office to switch the research type from non-proprietary to proprietary by shift unit within 60 days after the completion of the experiment or the end of the fiscal year (the end of March), whichever comes first.

2. Research Period

[Non-Proprietary Research]

• From April – July 2021 (tentative)
  For proposals other than those in the field of Life Science/Protein Crystal Analysis with the use of PX-BLs, the beamtime will be allocated in 2021A (From April – July 2021, tentative). Refer to “2021A Operation of Proposals in the Field of Life Science/Protein Crystal Analysis” for the proposals in the field of Life Science/Protein Crystal Analysis with the use of PX-BLs.

[Proprietary Research]

• – At all beamlines except BL14B2, BL19B2, and BL46XU
•     From April – July 2021 (tentative)
• – At BL14B2, BL19B2 and BL46XU (BLs intended for industrial applications)
•     From April – late May 2021 (first period of 2021A)
• (We will call for proposals to be conducted during the second and the third periods of 2021A in February and April 2021, respectively.)

To see beamlines available for 2021A beamtime by type of proposal, click here.

3. Beamlines and Beamtime Available to Users

For beamlines available to users and beamtime allocated to each beamline, click the link below. Please note that the numbers of shifts specified in the lists include the shifts allocated to General Proposals as well as newly approved proposals (Long-Term, Partner User, Non-Proprietary Grant-Aided, and Epoch-Making Initiatives Proposals).
The beamlines intended for industrial application (BL14B2, BL19B2, BL46XU) are accepted only for industrial application. If you wish to submit a non- proprietary General Proposal for Industrial Application, please read the “Call for 2021A General Proposals for Industrial Application.”

For users who plan to apply for the use of PX-BLs, be sure to refer to“2021A Operation of Proposals in the Field of Life Science/Protein Crystal Analysis”.

Public Beamlines

RIKEN Beamlines

Please contact the Beamline Scientist of the desired beamline before applying for beamtime.

* Industrial Applications only.
**Users who wish to apply for BL41XU or BL45XU, make sure to read here.
***Proposals for high-resolution inelastic x-ray scattering will automatically be considered for both BL35XU and BL43LXU: use BL35XU as the beamline choice.  The number of shifts requested should be based on the time needed at BL35XU.
****Reconstruction Works are planned atBL20B2 and BL35XU.
*****BL09XU and BL38B1 are not available for 2021A term.

For the specifications and status of experimental stations, please check the Beamline List. To see what kinds of experiments have been performed at SPring-8, please refer to the SPring-8 Solution Database.
If you have no experience using the desired beamline or if you have questions about the experimental stations, please contact the Beamline Scientist of the beamline of interest before applying for beamtime.

4. Several Bunch Mode Operation

For several bunch mode operation, please refer to “1.4 Several Bunch Mode Operation in 2021A” in the “Call for 2021A SPring-8 Research Proposals – Overview -” or “Several Bunch Modes” of the SPring-8 Website.

5. Proposal Submission

Applicants/project leaders are required to submit proposals online through the web-based proposal submission system. Before starting the application process, please first carefully read the “Call for 2021A SPring-8 Research Proposals -Overview-.”

[Non-Proprietary Research]

User Information Website (UI site) > Log in to My Page > Application/Reporting > Proposal/Use Plan Submission > New > Non-Proprietary Research > General Proposal

[Proprietary Research]

User Information Website (UI site) > Log in to My Page > Application/Reporting > Proposal/Use Plan Submission > New > Proprietary Research > General Proposal

If you are applying for proprietary beamtime, you need to submit a “Proprietary Use Agreement for Public Beamline”. Please download the agreement from the UI site, have it signed by the person who is responsible for the payment, and send it to the SPring-8 Users Office by post no later than December 15, 2020.

For step-by-step instructions on how to submit proposals, click here.

[Industrial Application]

If you wish to submit a proposal for industrial application, be sure to follow the instructions detailed in the “Call for 2021A General Proposals for Industrial Application” (The information required on the online application form is different).

[Protein Crystal Analysis]

When you plan to use PX-BLs and apply for proposals in the field of Life Science/Protein Crystal Analysis, be sure to refer to “2021A Operation of Proposals in the Field of Life Science/Protein Crystal Analysis” because different types of information are required to complete the application form.

6. Submission Deadline for Online Proposals

Tuesday, December 8, 2020, 10:00 am (Japan time)
(Proprietary Use Agreement: December 15, 2020)

To avoid last-minute technical problems and possible network congestion caused by heavy online traffic, you are strongly encouraged to complete and submit your application well in advance of the deadline. If you have trouble completing/submitting your application online, please contact the SPring-8 Users Office (see 12. Contact) before the deadline.
Upon successful submission, you will receive a confirmation email attached with a copy of the Agreement (Rules for Users) in PDF format. If you do not receive the confirmation email, please log in to the system and check if your proposal has been submitted successfully.

7．Proposal Review

7.1 Non-proprietary Research

The scientific and technological value, the degree of expectation to produce results, the scientific feasibility, safety of the experiment, and ethics are comprehensively reviewed. If the research area of your proposal is Industrial Applications, the review of scientific and technological value will be focused on the potential and significance of the expected results in terms of technologies for industrial base, the social significance of the proposal, and the contribution to social economy.

7.2 Proprietary Research

Technical feasibility, safety of the experiment, and ethics of proposals are reviewed.

8. Notification of Review Results

Review results will be available in “My Page” of UI site at mid-February 2021.

9. Report Submission (Non-Proprietary Research Only)

Users are required to submit an Experiment Summary Report online within 60 days of their experiment. Submitted reports are made publicly available online two weeks after the report submission deadline for the last experiment of the term (60 days after the end of each half-year research term + two weeks). For details, click here.

10. Publication of Research Results (Non-Proprietary Research Only)

Publish your research in the form of a refereed journal (incl. refereed proceedings and Doctoral thesis), a SPring-8/SACLA Research Report refereed by JASRI, or a technical journal approved by JASRI, and register the published works with the Publications Database within three years from the end of the research term. In the publications, please clearly state that the results were obtained through the use of the SPring-8 specifying the relevant experiment title and number.
For details, click here

UI site > Log in to My Page > Application/Reporting > After Experiment > Publications Entry

11. Others

11.1 Fees

For information about beamtime fee and user fees, please see the “Call for 2021A SPring-8 Research Proposals – Overview –.”
Click here for more details about the user fees.

11.2 Complementary Use with SACLA, J-PARC MLF or HPCI including the K computer / the supercomputer Fugaku

We also invite SPring-8 non-proprietary General Proposals for complementary use with SACLA, J-PARC MLF (neutron facility) or HPCI including the K computer / the supercomputer Fugaku (public computational resource of High Performance Computing Infrastructure including the K computer / the supercomputer Fugaku). For details, please refer to the “Call for 2021A SPring-8 Research Proposals in Complementary Use with SACLA, J-PARC MLF or HPCI including the K computer / the supercomputer Fugaku“

11.3 Deadline for 2021B Proposals (next half-year research term)

Deadline for 2021B proposals (Second half of fiscal 2021) is scheduled at mid-June 2021.

12. Contact