Call for 2022A Budding Researchers Support Proposals Closed

Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) is calling for 2022A (April 2022 – August 2022, tentative) Budding Researchers Support Proposals. Interested parties are encouraged to apply. Please read the following instructions in full before preparing your application.

Important

1. New Proposal Review Fields (PDF) will be applied to 2022A proposals. Please click here for details.
   Proposal application forms have also been updated, and “Equipment” needs to be selected in addition to “Beamline”. Detailed instruction is available here. Make sure to check “Choose from Beamline” and click “OK” when you select “Beamline” and “Equipment”. Please consult SPring-8 Users Office (sp8jasri@spring8.or.jp), in case you are not sure about “Beamline” or “Equipment”. If you select “Unknown/Others” for “Beamline” or “Equipment”, the review will proceed with the “Beamline” or “Equipment,” which seem the most appropriate.
   In addition, if you cannot find your preferable combinations of “Beamline” and “Equipment”, select “Unknown/Others” and notify SPring-8 Users Office by email of your preferable combinations of “Beamline” and “Equipment”.
   [For applicants choosing “Industrial Application” or “Humanities and Social Sciences” as Review Field]
   If you want to select the preferable equipment from beamline or in case the appropriate equipment is unclear, please check “Choose from Beamline” and click “OK” to choose Beamline/Equipment from pull-down menu at Basic Information on the application form.
2. Due to beamline restructuring, HAXPES will be the only measurement technique at BL46XU from the 2022A term. The multi-axis diffractometer installed at BL46XU will be relocated to BL13 XU after 2021B term. Furthermore, BL46XU was available only for proposals in Industrial Application Field till 2021B term, but BL46XU will also be available for proposals in other review fields in 2022A term.

Special Notes on COVID-19
Special policy will be applied to 2022A proposals in order to minimize the effects of beamtime cancellations due to COVID-19. Please make sure to check here.

Contents

1. What is the Budding Researchers Support Program?

The Budding Researchers Support Program is the research proposal using SPring-8 installed synchrotron radiation with broad wavelength range spanning infrared light to X-rays and advanced measurement systems (same as General Proposals) and intends to encourage budding researchers who will shape the future of synchrotron radiation research. Under the program, we will provide support for graduate students with an exploratory and original research proposal or research theme. Interested and qualified candidates are encouraged to apply. Please prepare your proposal application using the following guidelines and instructions. Please also refer to the “Call for 2022A SPring-8 Research Proposals – Overview –.”

2. Application Requirements

Applicants must be either
a) Ph.D. students or
b) Master’s students, who will be PhD. students at the time of experiment at the SPring-8.
Applicants are required to show initiative, work independently, and be self-reliant when conducting research. All applicants must obtain permission to apply from their PhD. advisors, who can be responsible for the experiment at SPring-8. If you are unsure whether or not you qualify, please contact the SPring-8 Users Office at sp8jasri@spring8.or.jp.

IMPORTANT:
Users must maintain their student status at the time of experiment. Otherwise, users are required to carry out their approved Budding Researchers Support Proposals as General Proposals and are no longer eligible for reimbursement of domestic travel and lodging expenses. If you have graduated from school/taken a job and will no longer be a student at the time of experiment, you must report to the Users Office (see 14. Contact). Failing to do so may result in you having to refund the amount paid to you.

3. Support for Expenses

We will cover the domestic travel expenses including the SPring-8 Guest House lodging expenses for two people (a project leader and one student as a project team member) for applicants from domestic universities. These supports have not been available for applicants from foreign organizations and the expenses have to be borne by the users themselves from 2019B.

4. Research Period

• [At All Public Beamlines except BL14B2, BL19B2 and BL46XU (excl. Industrial Application field)]
  From April – August 2022 (tentative)
• [At BL14B2, BL19B2 and BL46XU (Industrial Application field)]
  From April – mid-May 2022 (first period of 2022A)
  There are 3 calls for proposals per research term (6 deadlines per year): this time, JASRI is calling for proposals to be conducted during the first period of 2022A.

For proposals other than those in the field of Structural Biology with the use of PX-BLs, the beamtime will be allocated in 2022A (from April 2022 – August 2022, tentative). Refer to “2022A Operation of Proposals in the Field of Structural Biology” for the proposals in the field of Structural Biology with the use of PX-BLs.
To see beamlines available for 2022A beamtime by type of proposal, click here.

5. 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, Epoch-Making Initiatives Proposals, and Long-Term Graduate Student Proposals).
If you wish to apply with the beamline(s) above for industrial application, please be sure to select Budding Researchers Support Proposals for Industrial Application as Type of Proposal on the User Information Website.
*BL46XU was available only for proposals in Industrial Application Field until 2021B but will be open to proposals in other review fields in 2022A. Please note that HAXPES will be the only available technique at BL46XU from 2022A.
For the proposals in the field of Structural Biology with the use of PX-BLs, be sure to refer to “2022A Operation of Proposals in the Field of Structural Biology” before applying.

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.
***BL46XU will be open to proposals in all review fields from 2022A term.
****BL38B1 is available only for BioSAXS experiments.
*****Proposals for high-resolution inelastic x-ray scattering will automatically be considered for both BL35XU and BL43LXU: use BL35XU as the beamline choice.
Similarly, Nuclear Resonant Scattering proposals to BL35XU will also automatically be considered at BL19LXU.

CryoTEM

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.

6. Several Bunch Mode Operation

For several bunch mode operation, please refer to “1.4 Several Bunch Mode Operation in 2022A” in the “Call for 2022A SPring-8 Research Proposals – Overview –” or “Several Bunch Modes” of the SPring-8 Website.

7. 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 2022A SPring-8 Research Proposals -Overview-“. If you have any questions about using synchrotron radiation or your experiment plan, please feel free to contact us (See 14.Contact).

User Information Website (UI site) > My Page Login > Create and edit the assignment application form > New > Budding Researchers Support Proposal

Important Notes about Information Required on the Application:
For step-by-step instructions on how to submit proposals, please see this page.

• [Industrial Application]
  The information required on the online application for industrial application is different from other areas of research; so please draft your application offline first using the MS Word template (General Proposal, Budding Researchers Support Proposal (industrial application)).
  
• [Structural Biology]
  When you plan to use PX-BLs and apply for proposals in the field of Structural Biology, be sure to refer to “2022A Operation of Proposals in the Field of Structural Biology” because different types of information are required to complete the application form.

8. Submission Deadline for Online Proposals

Thursday, December 2, 2021, 2:00 pm (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 14. 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.

Please make sure to print out the Agreement*, have it signed by the project leader and the PhD. advisor, and send it to the Users Office by email no later than December 9, 2021.

* Important Note for PhD. Advisors:
By signing the agreement, you agree to register as a project team member, to bear equal responsibility with the project leader, and to come to SPring-8 (if at all possible) to provide support, advice, and guidance to the project leader at the time of experiment.

9. Proposal Review

Submitted Budding Researchers Support Proposals are subject to review as General Proposals at the SPring-8 Proposal Review Committee (SPring-8 PRC). At the SPring-8 PRC, the scientific and technological value, the degree of expectation to produce results, the necessity of Spring-8 as a research tool, the scientific feasibility, safety of the experiment, and ethics are comprehensively peer 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.

10. Notification of Review Results

Review results will be available in “My Page” of UI site at mid-February 2022.

11. Report Submission

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.

12. Publication of Research Results

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 > My Page Login > Register research results

13. Others

13.1 User Fees

Supported by the Government’s treasury, 2022A users of Budding Researchers Support Program from domestic universities are exempt from paying user fees (fixed and variable fees) within the limits of the budget. Please note that the variable fee is not always covered when it exceeds the limits of the budget. On the other hand, there has been no financial of user fees for proposals from foreign universities from 2019B. Similarly, domestic travel and lodging expenses support has not been available for proposals from foreign universities.

Click here for more details about the user fees.

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

We also invite SPring-8 Budding Researchers Support 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, refer to the “Call for 2022A SPring-8 Research Proposals in Complementary Use with SACLA, J-PARC MLF or HPCI including the K computer / the supercomputer Fugaku.”

13.3 Deadline for 2022B Proposals (next half-year research term)

Deadline for 2022B proposals (last half of fiscal 2022) is scheduled at early June 2022.
Please note that we will call for proposals to be conducted during the second (mid-May – early July 2022) and the third (early July – August 2022) periods of 2022A at BL14B2, BL19B2 and BL46XU in March and May 2022, respectively.

13.4 General Insurance and Compensation

Users shall take out appropriate personal injury and liability insurance before conducting experiments. If their project teams include students, they shall make sure that all the students take out appropriate personal injury and liability insurance. If users damage SPring-8 facilities, equipment or persons, either willfully or through gross negligence, JASRI may require them to meet all or part of the cost of repairs. JASRI shall take due account of all relevant circumstances in determining the degree of user liability.

14. Contact