Call for 2017B Proposals at SACLA

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The Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) is pleased to announce the call for 2017B proposals for research to be carried out at SACLA. Please follow the following guidelines and instructions to apply.

< Significant change for 2017B >

  • Simultaneous operation of BL3 and BL2
    SACLA starts parallel operations of BL3(XFEL1) and BL2(XFEL2) in 2017B. Together with BL1(SXFEL), SACLA provides FEL light at all three beamlines simultaneously, which will greatly expand the availability of SACLA. Please see the following link for details: http://xfel.riken.jp/eng/topics/20170414_eng.html
    • Experiments at BL2
      The following experiments are basically conducted at BL2:
      – Serial Femtosecond Crystallography (SFX)
      – Fixed-target Protein Crystallography (FPX)
      – Coherent Diffractive Imaging (CDI)
    • Feasibility check beamtime (FCBT)
      For more effective use of the expanded opportunity, we accept a request of a feasibility check beamtime (FCBT, max 0.5 shifts) for sample screening before the main experiment.
    • Current status of BL1
      Owing to the accelerator upgrade in 2016, a standard wavelength range of BL1 was expanded to 10-30 nm (40-120 eV in photon energy).

１．Types of Proposals

Call for 2017B Proposals at SACLA

  • General Proposals (Non-Proprietary Research)*1
  • General Proposals (Proprietary Research)*2

*1 For non-proprietary research:

  • Project leaders are obliged to publish their results (e.g., in refereed journals).
  • Please see the following link for details on the Complementary Use of SPring-8, J-PARC MLF or the K computer: http://sacla.xfel.jp/?page_id=11807&lang=en

*2 For proprietary research:

  • Project leaders are not required to publish their research results but are required to pay fees for beamtime.
  • Project leaders, for the time being, should be affiliated with a corporate enterprise located and registered in Japan.

Once approved for beamtime, proposals are valid for only 2017B.

For Proprietary Time-Designated Proposals that have been called for throughout the year, please see the following link for details: http://sacla.xfel.jp/?page_id=10937&lang=en.

２．Applicant Eligibility

1) Non-Proprietary General Proposals
There are few restrictions on the eligibility of applicants for non-proprietary research:

  • Students are ineligible (however, students can participate as project team members in any research project).
  • If you are affiliated with an institution outside Japan, please have at least one local contact person that is affiliated with a Japanese institution participate in your experiment. If you cannot find one, please contact the Users Office.

2) Proprietary General Proposals
Applicants/project leaders, for the time being, should be affiliated with a corporate enterprise located and registered in Japan.

3. Beamlines and Equipment Available to Users

The following beamlines are available: BL3(XFEL1), BL2(XFEL2), and BL1(SXFEL). For details, please see the Beamline Technical Information for SACLA HP at the following link: http://xfel.riken.jp/eng/users/index.html.

4. Research Period

The research period extends from September 2017 through March 2018* (excluding scheduled maintenance periods).
During this period, the facility will operate around the clock with user beamtime allocated for successful proposals.

For SACLA beamlines, the beamtime for non-proprietary research is basically allocated by 12-hour shifts (the FCBT may be allocated for up to six-hours). Beamtime for proprietary research is allocated in two-hour units.
*Subject to change, due to budgetary constraints.

5. Fees

  1. Beamtime Fees
    [Non-proprietary Research] Users are exempt from paying beamtime fees.
    [Proprietary Research] 1,098,000 yen/2 hours (tax included)
  2. User Fees
    All users are required to pay user fees to cover the costs of beamline consumables used. User fees include a fixed fee for wear and tear on the facility and a variable fee for the SPring-8 stockroom reagents, parts, and stationery.
    ◇Fixed Fee
    [Non-proprietary Research] 15,840 yen/shift (12 hours)
    [Proprietary Research] 2,640 yen/2 hours
    ◇Variable Fee:
    Calculated based on actual usage
Type of Proposal Research Type Beamtime Fee* User Fees*
Fixed Fee Variable Fee
General Proposal Non-Proprietary Users exempt from this fee. 15,840 yen/shift
(12 hours)		 Calculated based on
actual usage
Proprietary 1,098,000 yen/
2 hours		 2,640 yen/
2 hours

* Tax included.

Important: JASRI will cover the user fees for non-proprietary research submitted by foreign users within limits of the budget. Please note that the variable fee may not be covered if it exceeds the limits of the budget.

6. Proposal Application and Required Procedures

Applicants/project leaders are required to submit proposals via the SACLA User Information website (SACLA UI site).

  1. User Registration
    To submit an application, user accounts (i.e., user ID and password) for SPring-8/SACLA are required for all participants of the experiments. For registration, please visit the website: http://sacla.xfel.jp/?p=28&lang=en. Before starting the application process, project leaders must ensure that all project team members have completed user registrations.
  2. Application Method
    Applicants/project leaders are required to submit proposals online via the SACLA UI site using the web-based proposal submission system.
    Please see the following link for details on submitting proposals online: http://sacla.xfel.jp/?p=2139&lang=en.

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

    3. Proposal Application Templates
    　　General Proposal (Non-Proprietary)
    　　General Proposal (Proprietary)
  3. Confirmation E-mail
    Upon successful submission, you will receive a confirmation email with an attached copy of the Agreement (Rules for Users) in PDF format. If you do not receive the confirmation email, please log in to the system to confirm that your proposal was submitted successfully.
  4. Other

  • [Lifetime of Proposal]
    Approved proposals are valid only for the forthcoming user operation research term (2017B). Make sure that the proposed research can be completed within that period; beamtime cannot be approved for comprehensive research that cannot be finished within the timeframe of a single research term.
  • [Project Leader]
    The project leader is the person who will assume overall responsibility throughout the duration of the experiments at SACLA.

7. Online Proposal Submission Deadline

Friday, June 9, 2017, 10:00 am (Japan Standard Time)

To avoid last minute technical problems and possible network congestion, 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/SACLA Users Office prior to the deadline.
If you are applying for proprietary research, you must submit a “Proprietary Use Agreement for Public Beamline*” and a “Proprietary Use Pledge for SACLA Public Beamline.”
Please download the agreements from the UI site, have them signed, and send them to the SACLA Users Office by post no later than June 16, 2017.
* Signed by the person who is responsible for the payment.

8. Review Criteria and Notification of Review Results

1. Review Criteria

  1. Non-proprietary research
    Non-proprietary research should be fully peer-reviewed in terms of scientific and technical relevance, the necessity of using SACLA as a research tool, ethics, technical feasibility, and the safety of the experiment on the basis of criteria 1-5.

  2. Proprietary research
    Proprietary research should be reviewed in terms of ethics, technical feasibility, and the safety of the experiment on the basis of criteria 3–5.

[SACLA Review Criteria for Research Proposals]

Research proposals for a wide range of scientific disciplines shall be fully peer-reviewed and then selected based on the criteria outlined below.

Proposal selection should be based on the Science and Technology Basic Plan and other related national policies while balancing consideration for international cooperation and competitiveness. Furthermore, consideration should also be given to proposals contributing to the training of researchers.

  1. Scientific and technical relevance (at least one of the following criteria must be fulfilled.):
    1.1 The proposed research is of cutting-edge scientific and technological
    value (i.e., innovative and pioneering) or expected to contribute to opening up new possibilities for SACLA and must meet one or both of the following criteria:
    a) Expected to make a significant scientific contribution.
    b) Expected to contribute to increasing industrial application.
    1.2 The proposed research has social significance or will contribute to the social economy.
  2. Necessity of using SACLA as a research tool.
  3. Conformity with the Science and Technology Basic Law and social norms: the implementation of the research proposal is appropriate in light of the Law and socially accepted ideas (e.g., the implementation of the proposed research and the use of research results are for exclusively peaceful purposes).
  4. Technical feasibility.
  5. Safety of the experiment.
  6. Proprietary proposals shall be reviewed under the criteria 3 through 5 above.

2. Notification of Review Results
Applicants will be notified in writing of the review results (i.e., the outcome of your application) in late August 2017.

9. Experiment Summary Report (Non-Proprietary Research Only)

To ensure transparency of the non-proprietary research program, users are required to submit an Experiment Summary Report* within 60 days following their experiment.

Experiment Summary Report
Length: up to one A4 page
Language: English or Japanese
Required Information: purpose, experimental method, experimental data, samples, and summary of the results.

Two weeks following the report submission deadline for the last experiment of the term (60 days after the end of each half-year research term + two weeks), submitted experiment summary reports will be incorporated into the experiment summary report database with search capabilities and made available on the UI site. Please see the following link for details: http://sacla.xfel.jp/?p=105&lang=en.

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

Research results obtained through the use of SACLA must be disseminated within three years from the end of the half-year research term in at least one of the following three formats:

  1. Refereed journal papers, including refereed proceedings and dissertations (Proposal No. must be specified).

    2. 〈in the event that proposal research did not result in publication〉

  2. SPring-8/SACLA Research Report
  3. Technical journal articles

Please see the following link for details: http://sacla.xfel.jp/?p=107&lang=en.
If you are affiliated with a corporate enterprise located and registered in Japan, you may request to switch the research type of your approved general proposal from “non-proprietary” to “proprietary” within 60 days after the completion of the experiment or the end of the fiscal year (the end of March), whichever comes first.

11. Important Notes

  1. Radiation Worker Registration
    Based on Japanese law (i.e., the Ordinance on Prevention of Ionizing Radiation Hazards), all SACLA users are required to register as SPring-8/SACLA radiation workers. Please see the following link for details: http://sacla.xfel.jp/?page_id=287&lang=en#ch05-1.
  2. Safety Precautions
    For your safety, do not work alone. Please work in a group of two or more.
  3. Cancellation of Beamtime
    Please be advised that your scheduled beamtime may be cancelled in emergencies such as equipment failure, natural disaster, pandemic, etc. In such cases, users cannot claim compensation for the lost beamtime.
  4. General Insurance and Compensation
    Users shall take out appropriate personal injury and liability insurance before conducting experiments. If users damage SPring-8/SACLA 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.

12. Contact/Consultation

  • General Inquiries
    SPring-8/SACLA Users Office
    Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI)
    1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun
    Hyogo 679-5198 Japan
    Tel: +81-(0)791-58-0961
    Fax: +81-(0)791-58-0965
    email: sacla.jasri@spring8.or.jp
  • Consultation for Technical Issues
    XFEL Utilization Division
    Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI)
    1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun
    Hyogo 679-5198 Japan
    email: sacla-bl.jasri@spring8.or.jp

13. Links

  1. Basic Policies regarding Proposal Selection for Public Beamlines
  2. Information Management Principles for Usage Promotion Services at the Specific Synchrotron Radiation Facilities

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