Call for 2021A General Proposals for Industrial Application Closed

Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) is calling for 2021A General Proposals for Industrial Application (non-proprietary research only). Please read the following instructions in full before preparing your application. Please also refer to the “Call for 2021A SPring-8 Research Proposals -Overview-.”

We also accept applications for the SPring-8 measurement service:
XAFS Measurement Service at BL14B2, Powder X-ray Diffraction Measurement Service at BL19B2, Small Angle Scattering (SAXS) Measurement Service at BL19B2, HAXPES Measurement Service at BL46XU and Thin Film Analysis Measurement Service at BL46XU.
Interested parties are encouraged to apply.

Special Notes on COVID-19
Special policies will be introduced for research proposals and beamtimes for 2021A term in order to minimize the effects of beamtime cancellations due to COVID-19. Please make sure to check here.

Important

• 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.
• If your proposed experiment is judged to be feasible at beamlines intended for industrial applications (BL14B2, BL19B2 and BL46XU) but these beamlines are not selected at the time of submission, your proposal may be also reviewed at these beamlines. In that case, we will contact you by email to ask whether you agree or not.

Contents

1. Non-Proprietary and Proprietary Research

There are two types of research at SPring-8: non-proprietary and proprietary research. Users 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 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 and/or experimental samples. If you wish to submit a proprietary proposal, please read the “Call for 2021A General Proposals (excl. industrial application)“.

Users may request the Users Office to switch the research type from non-proprietary to proprietary by shift unit within 60 days of the completion of the experiment or the end of the fiscal year (the end of March), whichever comes first.

2. Requirements

Your application must include at least one person out of a project leader and project team members who is an employee of a private company or related institution. Related institutions by our definition are (1) public testing laboratories, and (2) incorporated foundations/associations whose main business are contract services of experiments/researches for private companies.

Note 1: We categorize national/private universities, independent administrative institutions, special public corporations, and public corporations as neither (1) nor (2).
Note 2: JASRI falls into neither (1) nor (2).

If you are not sure that your research group will meet this requirement, please contact the Industrial Application Division (see 16. Consultation).

3. Research Period

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

4. 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 as well as newly approved proposals (Long-Term, Non-Proprietary Grant-Aided, Partner User, and Epoch-Making Initiatives Proposals).

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.

5. 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.

6. 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-.”

To submit the application online, you need to have obtained a user account (user card ID number and password) by registering yourself. Please make sure that not only project leaders/applicants but also all project team members are registered as SPring-8 users. If you are not registered as a SPring-8 user, click here to register.

IMPORTANT:
Unlike other types of proposals, emphasis is placed on particular criteria in reviewing General Proposals for Industrial Application (See 8. Proposal Review): so please download a MS Word template, provide all required information according to the instructions provided in the template, and copy and paste into the online application form (since there are discrepancies between the required items on the online application form and in the template).

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

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

7. Submission Deadline for Online Proposals

Tuesday, December 8, 2020, 10:00 am (Japan time)

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 17. 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.

UI site > Log in to My Page > Application/Reporting > Proposal/Use Plan Submission > Submitted

8. Proposal Review

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 the 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. To promote the use of SPring-8 by new users* and industries**, applicants’ experience using SPring-8, affiliation is also taken into account.

The submitted proposals are evaluated by the SPring-8 Proposal Review Committee (SPring-8 PRC) consisting of experts from industry and academia, and proposals that are rated excellent in light of the aims of the general proposal (for industrial application) program are selected. The review sessions are closed to the public; however, we make sure that a reviewer who has a conflict of interest with a proposal would not be assigned to review the proposal in question. In addition, all current and retired reviewers are under an obligation of confidentiality: they are required not to disclose to any third party any information relating to the submitted proposals and the proposal review/selection process acquired as reviewers and to manage such information with the care of a good manager. Please note that questions about the status of review process are not acceptable.

*Applicants who have never used SPring-8.
**Project leader needs to be affiliated with a private sector organization.

9. Notification of Review Results

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

10. Publication of Research Results

You are mandated to (1) publish your research outcomes from the use of SPring-8 in a refereed journal or equivalent, e.g., refereed proceedings, and dissertations, and then (2) register the publications with the Publications Database within three years after the end of the research term. In case the proposed research does not result in a refereed journal, you have two options to publish your research results in (a) a SPring-8/SACLA Research Report (SRR) or (b) a technical journal. Your SRR manuscript will be peer-reviewed by the JASRI’s SPring-8 Research Results Review Committee in terms of quantity, quality and integrity of the information provided. Please note that the technical journal needs to have been accredited by the committee beforehand.
For details, click here.

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

11. Experiment Summary Report

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.

In addition to an experiment summary report, users also need to submit an Industrial Application Proposal Report as explained below.

12. Industrial Application Proposal Report (IAPR)

In order to efficiently promote industrial researches at SPring-8, we will ask for your contribution to the IAPRs summarizing the outcomes from your individual General Proposal for Industrial Application. We will accept an e-copy of the report preferably in MS-Word format by email or post. Detailed instruction will be included in the document to be sent by the Users Office after the proposal’s approval.

After an editorial review, not peer-reviews, by a coordinators in charge, every report will be made available online and in print later than six months after the end of the research term. You will have a good chance to present your research outcomes at SPring-8 Industrial Application Symposium to be scheduled after the IAPRs have been accumulated to a certain number. Besides, we may ask for your permission to appropriately utilize your research outcomes for our PR purposes.

[Relation between Industrial Application Proposal Report (IAPR) and SPring-8/SACLA Research Report (SRR)]
An IAPR does not fall into any type of “publications” defined in “10. Publication of Research Results.” Examples of “publications” are a scientific paper in refereed journals, refereed proceedings, the SRRs, and technical journals. If you wish to publish your research outcomes in the SRRs, you need to notify the Users Office of your will when you submit an IAPR. In this case, the publication of your IAPR will be on hold. Then, please submit it to the SRR and have the report peer-reviewed. The SRR will be reprinted in an issue of the IAPRs instead of your original IAPR. We do not treat your IAPR in this way without (a) your notification to the Users Office upon the submission or (b) your submission for the SRR by the date of issue of the IAPRs.
Please note that you are required to submit at least one article for one proposal, even in cases where you wish to publish your research outcomes in the SRRs.

13. Fees

For information about Beamtime Fee and User Fees, please see the “Call for 2021A SPring-8 Research Proposals – Overview –.”

Important: Although JASRI will support users by covering the user fees for certain types of proposals, there has been no financial support available for non-proprietary beamtime users from foreign organizations, including Budding Researchers Support Proposals, from 2019B term.

Click here for more details.

14. Complementary Use

We also invite SPring-8 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.”

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

Deadline for 2021B proposals (Second half of fiscal 2021) is scheduled at mid-June 2021.
Please note that the deadline for proposals to be conducted during the second period (late May – late June 2021) and the third period (late June – July 2021) of 2021A at beamlines intended for industrial applications (BL14B2, BL19B2 and BL46XU) are mid-March and mid-May, respectively.

16. Consultation

The coordinators and other Industrial Application Division staff are available for consultation. If you have questions about the feasibility of your experiment, research methods, research planning, etc., please send your questions directly to below.

17. Contact