This call has been closed.

Contents

1. Purpose
2. Outline
3. Operation
4. Procedure from Application to Review
5. Review Criteria
6. Notification of Final Review Results (Acceptance or Rejection)
7. Report Submission
8. Publication of Research Results
9. Others
10. Contact

1．Purpose

2．Outline

To achieve these goals, we are calling for research groups that will carry out research in unexplored fields using SPring-8. When a research group is selected, the project director will be entitled to lead, at his/her discretion, the Epoch-Making Initiatives Proposals, which will be executed by project leaders, using multiple beamlines within the effective period (two years). Moreover, the beamtime can be arbitrarily allocated within the allowable range for each term (although the number of shifts for beamtime will be determined after review).
The structure of a research group targeted in this call is as follows.

Note: Once the research group is selected, the project director and project leaders are determined and cannot be changed (their numbers cannot be increased or decreased). However, the project team members can be changed and their number can be increased or decreased within the research period [see Section 3(1)].

The applicant should be the project director. The numbers of project leaders and project team members are not limited. The research group should carry out its research activities on the basis of the research plan submitted in the application. The project director should supervise the entire research plan of the group for the Epoch-Making Initiatives Proposals. The project leaders should oversee their individual projects as project leaders under the project director. The applicant research groups will be screened by the Epoch-Making Initiatives Proposals Review Committee (hereafter, the Review Committee), which consists of academic and industrial experts. The Review Committee will select research groups that are considered to be outstanding, in accordance with the goals (review criteria) of Epoch-Making Initiatives Projects. The screening process consists of two steps: “document screening and interviews.” The research groups whose proposal passes the document screening will be interviewed at SPring-8. Note that up to two research groups may be selected in each call period. For details, refer to “9. Others.”
After passing the document screening, the project leaders should register their individual related research proposal online by the designated date in keeping with the research plan submitted upon application as an Epoch-Making Initiatives Proposal. For details, refer to “4. Procedure from Application to Review.” From the next A term, these proposals should be registered similarly as Epoch-Making Initiatives Proposals for each beamline through the User Information website (UI site) before the start of each term. The Review Committee will review the content of the registered Epoch-Making Initiatives Proposals and then determine the beamlines to be used and the number of shifts allocated.

3．Operation

Public Beamlines

RIKEN Beamlines

*incl. beamtime for the complementary use of SPring-8 and SACLA..
**Minimum number of beamtime available to users is 3 shifts.

4.　Procedure from Application to Review

⑥ After the deadline for submission, the Review Committee will screen the applicant research groups on the basis of their submitted Epoch-Making Initiatives Research Plan.
⑦ The Users Office will inform the applicant (project director) of the result of the document screening via email. The project director whose proposal passes the document screening will be informed of the timing of the interview and should complete the online registration of individual Epoch-Making Initiatives Proposals.
In the interview, the project director must make a presentation of the research plan, so the materials for the presentation must be prepared in advance of the interview.

Notification of result of document screening,
Around Friday, May 19, 2017

- (The following procedures apply only if the proposal passes the document screening.)-

⑧ Each project leader should complete the registration of his/her Epoch-Making Initiatives Proposal through the UI site by the deadline indicated in the following. Applicants are advised to be prepared in advance because there are only few days from the notification of the result of the document screening to the deadline for the online registration.

Deadline for online registration, 10:00 (JST), Thursday, May 25, 2017
(submission should be completed before the deadline)

[Procedure for Online Registration]
The registration should be carried out through the UI site. For details on the items required for input, refer to the Proposal Application Templates.
　UI site: http://user.spring8.or.jp/?lang=en
　Top page > Login to My Page > Proposal Application/Use Plan > New
　STEP1: Check Non-Proprietary Research
　STEP2: Click the START button for Epoch-Making Initiatives Proposals
　For the procedure for entering data on the subsequent pages, refer to the Proposal Application Templates.

⑨ The interview consists of the presentation and question-and-answer sessions. The project director should make an oral presentation.The materials used in the presentation should be submitted to the Users Office (sp8jasri@spring8.or.jp) as a PPT or PDF file before the interview date.

Interview Date: Monday, June 5, 2017
Venue: within SPring-8
*The project director will be informed of the details of the time and location via email (step ⑦).

As a rule, the project director should attend the interview. The project leaders may be allowed to attend the interview, if considered necessary. Keep in mind that the interview date cannot be changed.

5．Review Criteria

• The creation of a new research field is expected
• The structure of the applicant research group is novel
• The sustainable development of research is expected
• The research plan is effective in terms of labor and cost, and the management system for ensuring the effectiveness is appropriate

6．Notification of Final Review Results (Acceptance or Rejection)

7．Report Submission

8．Publication of Research Results

Publish your results in the form of a refereed journal (incl. refereed proceedings and dissertation), 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.
*All Epoch-Making Initiatives Proposals carried out by a selected research group within the effective period (two years) will be treated as a series of proposals despite the fact that multiple proposals exist. In such cases, the three-year deadline is counted from the end of the first research term.

[Every year]
Make a poster presentation at the SPring-8 Symposium, which is held once a year.

[On an as-needed basis]
Register your results when they are published.

To register, go to:
UI site > Log in to My Page > Application/Reporting > After Experiment > Publications Entry

For details, click here.

9．Others

10．Contact