Closed Call for 2023A Graduate Student Proposals

Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) is inviting the Graduate Student Proposals for the 2023A (April – August 2023, tentative) and for the first period of 2023A (April – late May 2023, tentative). Interested parties are encouraged to apply. Please read the following instructions in full before preparing your application.

 Special Notes 
1. Special policy will be applied to 2023A term proposals in order to minimize the effects of beamtime cancellations. Please make sure to check here.
2. 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.

 Important 
1. 1. Starting in 2022B term, the following beamlines invite proposals six times annually, including the beamlines previously intended for industrial application:
   BL01B1, BL02B1, BL02B2, BL09XU, BL13XU, BL14B2, BL19B2, BL46XU, and BL47XU* (*BL47XU will allocate only a few shifts for the 2nd and the 3rd period.)
2. Due to beamline refurbishment, the BL46XU has no call until the third period of 2023A.

Contents

1. What is the Graduate Student Program?

The Graduate Student 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 graduate students 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 2023A 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 Graduate Student 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 13. Contact). Failing to do so may result in you having to refund the amount paid to you.

3. Research Period

[At Beamlines with biannual calls for proposals]

　From April to early August 2023 (tentative)

[At Beamlines with sixannual calls for proposals]

　From April to late May 2023 (first period of 2023A)
　Please note that proposals requiring special conditions, such as bunch mode designation, may not necessarily be assigned to this research period.

4. Beamlines and Beamtime Available to Users

For beamlines available to users and beamtime allocated to each beamline, click here.

* Collectively abbreviated as PX-BLs.
** The BL47XU will allocate a few shifts for the 2nd and the 3rd period to the proposals in the designated review fields. Please refer to the note in 5. Proposal Submission.
*** Due to beamline refurbishment, the BL46XU has no call until the third period of 2023A.

For the specifications and status of experimental stations, please check the Beamline List. If you have any questions, please contact the Beamline Scientist of the beamline of interest. To see what kinds of experiments have been performed at SPring-8, please refer to the SPring-8 Solution Database.

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 2023A 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 13.Contact).

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

For step-by-step instructions on how to submit proposals, please see this page.

To avoid losing work in the event of a browser crash or unexpected logout, you are strongly encouraged to first draft your application offline using the MS Word template available here.

NOTE: The Research Period, such as “2023A” or “2023A-I,” specifies selectable beamlines. Beamlines belonging to different Research terms cannot be combined within the same proposal. Please contact the SPring-8 Users Office when you cannot select the Beamlines you want to use.
Example: BL40XU for the first-choice, BL02B1 for the second-choice

NOTE: The Beamlines with sixannual calls for proposals are available only for the review fields indicated below.

6. Special Notes for the Proposals for Structural Biology Field and Industrial Application Field

[Structural Biology]
When you plan to use PX-BLs and apply for proposals in the field of Structural Biology, be sure to refer to “2023A Operation of Proposals in the Field of Structural Biology” because different types of information are required to complete the application form.

[Industrial Application]
If you wish to submit a Graduate Student Proposal for Industrial Application, please select “Industrial Application” as the Group of the Review Field in the Basic Information of the application form. In addition, please read the instruction carefully in “General Proposals and Graduate Student Proposals Intended to Be Reviewed in the Industrial Application Field” for its peculiar conditions, including review criteria and reports.

7. Submission Deadline for Online Proposals

Tuesday, December 8, 2022, 10:00 am (in Japan time)
(Agreement: December 15, 2022)

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 13. 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 submit it to the Users Office no later than December 15, 2022.

To submit the document, visit the webpage below and click the “Agreement” button for the submitted proposal and upload the PDF file. If there is any problem with uploading a file, please send the PDF file by email to the Users Office (see 13. Contact).
♦ User Information Website (UI site) › My Page Login › Create and Edit Proposal Application › Submitted Proposals

* 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.

8. Proposal Review

Submitted Graduate Student 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. Please read the instruction of “General Proposals and Graduate Student Proposals Intended to Be Reviewed in the Industrial Application Field.”

9. Notification of Review Results

Review results will be available on “My Page” of the UI site in early February 2023.

10. 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.

11. 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 > Publications Entry

12. Others

12.1 User Fees

Supported by the Government’s treasury, 2023A users of Graduate Student Program from domestic universities are exempt from paying user fees (fixed and variable fees) within the budget. Please note that the variable fee is not always covered when it exceeds the limits of the budget.

Click here for more details about the user fees.

12.2 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. However, there are cases where support may not be provided under JASRI’s regulations, so please contact the SPring-8 Users Office in advance.

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

We also invite SPring-8 Graduate Student 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 2023A SPring-8 Research Proposals in Complementary Use with SACLA, J-PARC MLF or HPCI including the K computer / the supercomputer Fugaku.”

12.4 Deadline for Next-Term Proposals (2023B and the 2nd and the 3rd Period of 2023A)