Call for 2024B Non-Proprietary Priority Proposals

 Special Notes 
• 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 
• The following beamlines invite proposals six times annually, and this call is for the first period of 2024B, from late September to early November 2024: BL01B1, BL02B1, BL02B2, BL09XU, BL13XU, BL16XU, BL14B2, BL19B2, BL24XU(Proprietary Proposals only), and BL46XU.
  Please also note that BL47XU will not have calls for the 2nd and 3rd periods in 2024B.

Contents

1. What is the Non-Proprietary Priority Program?

The Non-Proprietary Priority Program intended for research proposals subject to pay the program fee (see 11.Fees) to prioritize using the beamtime. And they are also granted an exemption from scientific review; only the safety and technical feasibility of the experiment, the necessity to use SPring-8, and ethics (e.g. exclusively for peaceful purposes) are considered. In addition to the regular proposal, the One-Year proposal starts from the 2023A term. The One-Year proposal allows you to use beamtime in two consecutive research terms (beginning from the A term and ending in the B term) and enables you to use plural beamlines with one proposal. However, it is applicable only in A terms (no call for B terms).
Combined with the proprietary proposals, the beamtime for this program is limited to 40% of user beamtime for each beamline. Please also mind the standards below.
　One-Year proposal: Up to 10% to 15%, approximately
　RIKEN beamlines: Up to 50% of each user beamtime for public use
Please also note that the beamtime per Research Group is limited to up to 20% in total, including this program (both Regular and One-Year proposal) and the Proprietary Proposal.

Interested and qualified parties are encouraged to apply. Please prepare your proposal application using the following guidelines and instructions.

2. Period of Research

[At Beamlines with biannual calls for proposals]

　From late September 2024 to mid-February 2025 (tentative)

[At Beamlines with sixannual calls for proposals]

　From late September to early November 2024 (first period of 2024B)
　Please note that proposals requiring special conditions, such as bunch mode designation, may not necessarily be assigned to this research period.

3. Beamlines Available to Users

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

* BL16XU will invite proposals from the second period of the 2024B term.

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.

4. Application Requirements (Unqualified applicants are immediately screened out.)

Applicants need to fulfill the following conditions:

5. Application Method

Applicants/project leaders are required to submit proposals online through the User Information Website (UI site) and send to the Users Office a SPring-8 Program Fee Payment Agreement.

5.1 Online Submission

 UI site > Log in to My Page > Create and Edit Proposal Application Form > New > Non-Proprietary Priority 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.

5.2 Important Notes

5.2.1 Term

The Research Period, such as “2024B” or “2024B-I”, specifies selectable beamlines.

5.2.2 Research Abstract

Please provide information that indicates the research abstract and the necessity to use SPring-8 at “Abstract” in the application form. If not adequate, you may be asked to submit extra information.

5.2.3 Competitive Research Grant Program (Optional, if applicable)

You can provide supplementary information by filling in the “Grant-Aided Research” columns if any research grant is obtained related to the application proposal.

5.2.3 One-Year Research

There is no call for One-Year proposal for 2024B.

5.3 Required Documents

SPring-8 Program Fee Payment Agreement
(submission required for each proposal application)
Please download an agreement form (PDF) from the UI site (Click here to download the PDF form), provide all the required information and send it to the Users Office (see 14.Contact) by the deadline specified in 6. Submission Deadline for Online Proposals.

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

6. Submission Deadline for Online Proposals

• Deadline for online proposal submission:
 Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 10:00 am (in Japan Time)

• Deadline for document submission (Fee Payment Agreement):
 Tuesday, June 4, 2024

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 My Page of the UI site and check if your proposal has been submitted successfully.

 UI site > Log in to My Page > Create and Edit Proposal Application Form > Submitted

7. Proposal Review

The safety and technical feasibility of the experiment, the necessity to use SPring-8, and ethics (e.g., exclusively for peaceful purposes) will be considered. Approved proposals are given beamtime so far as beamtime available to this program permits.

In case the total beamtime shifts required by all the applied proposals exceed the designated percentage indicated below, the PRC determines in a comprehensive manner which proposals are given priority.

NOTE: Maximum percentages of Allocable Beamtime
Up to 40% of total beamtime per beamline can be allocated together for Proprietary Proposals and Non-Proprietary Priority Proposals.

Suppose the same research proposal is submitted as a Non-Proprietary Priority Proposal and a General Proposal. In that case, priority will be given to the Non-Proprietary Priority Proposal in selecting and allocating the beamtime.

8. Notification of Review Results

Users will be notified of review results by email or phone by Friday, June 7, 2024. When your proposal was not approved, you can resubmit the proposal as a General Proposal. In this case, please be sure to submit it through the web-based proposal submission system. An official notification of approval will be available in “My Page” at early August 2024.

9. 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.

10. Dissemination of Research Results

Publish your results 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 half-year 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.

 Log in to My Page > Publication Entry

For details, click here.

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.

11. Fees (Tax Included)

• A variable fee will be calculated and added in accordance with the amount of liquid helium actually used.

* 1 shift is 8 hours and for any proposals that are allocated by the hour, the fees are charged by the hour.

* Program Fee: 22,000 yen/shift for CryoTEMs

12. Deadline for Next-Term Proposals (2025A and the 2nd and the 3rd Period of 2024B)

The deadline for 2025A proposals (first half of fiscal 2025) is mid-November, 2024. Please also note that the deadlines for proposals to be conducted during the second (early November – mid-December 2024) and the third (late January – mid-February 2025) periods of 2024B are in August and October 2024, respectively, at Beamlines with sixannual calls for proposals.

13. Contact