Contents
1. What is Non-Proprietary Grant-Aided Program?
2. Period of Research
3. Beamlines Available to Users
4. Application Requirements
5. Application Method
6. Submission Deadline: June 15, 2011, 10:00 am (Japan Time)
7. Proposal Review
8. Notification of Review Results
9. Report Submission
10. Dissemination of Research Results
11. Fees
12. Contact

1. What is Non-Proprietary Grant-Aided Program?

The Non-Proprietary Grant-Aided Program is intended for research proposals that require the use of SPring-8 and have already been reviewed and approved for a large research grant. From 2008A, proposals with a large research grant designed to train researchers are also invited. Under the program, the proposals will be 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. The beamtime for this program was limited to 5% of entire user beamtime, and 20% of user beamtime for each beamline, but the 5% limit is removed from 2010B. The maximum beamtime allocated to each proposal is half the limit above.

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

2. Period of Research

         From October 2011 through February 2012
         (BL14B2, BL19B2 and BL46XU: From October through late December 2011)

3. Beamlines Available to Users

All beamlines accepting general proposals* are available.

Click here for the list of beamlines available for 2011B beamtime by type of proposal.
Please contact the Beamline Scientist of the desired beamline before applying for beamtime.

*Note:
- BL14B2, BL19B2 and BL46XU
These beamlines are exclusively intended for industrial use, and there will be two calls for proposals during 2011B : this time, JASRI invites proposals to be conducted during the first half of 2011B (October through late December 2011).

For the specifications and status of experimental stations, please check with the Beamline List. To see what kind of experiments have been performed at SPring-8, please check with the SPring-8 Solution Database.

For several bunch modes for 2011B, click here.

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

Applicants need to have:
a. obtained a research grant (see the applicable grant programs below) through an open and transparent review process, or
b. received an allotment from a person who has obtained a research grant.
Note: From 2010B, the size of the grant should not matter.

Applicable grant programs are as follows:
• competitive research grant programs administered by the Japanese Government Ministries (Grants-In-Aid for Scientific Research funded by MEXT, Science and Technology Promotion Adjustment Funds of MEXT, etc.)
• competitive research grant programs administered by the Japanese Independent Administrative Agencies such as Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA), etc.

Important Notes:
- In principle, programs on the Comprehensive List of Competitive Funds posted by the Council for Science and Technology Policy, Cabinet Office, are considered the applicable grant programs. Please click here to see the list (PDF).

- Proposals with college/university grants, private grants, and grants from abroad are not accepted.

- If the program's research purpose is irrelevant to your research purpose specified in your application for SPring-8 beamtime, your proposal will be disqualified.

- From 2008A, proposals with a research grant designed to train young researchers are also invited.

5. Application Method

5.1 Before Application
Before making an application, please contact the Beamline Scientist and estimate the number of required shifts (Make sure not to request beamtime shifts that your competitive funds cannot cover.). Please note that you need to login to your account* with your user card number and password to complete/submit your application online; if you haven't obtained your user card number, please complete user registration first.

*Users no longer need to contact the Users Office in advance to have their user account activated for proposal application.

5.2 Online Proposal Submission
Please first carefully read the "Call for 2011B SPring-8 Research Proposals -Overview-."

Applicants/project leaders are required to submit proposals online through the web-based proposal submission system.

User Information website (UI site) > Log in to My Page > Proposal Submission > New > Non-Proprietary Research > Long-term Proposal

Required Information
- title of experiment, research areas, and research methods
- choice of beamline and the number of required shifts
- known safety hazards & measures to be taken
- reasons why you need SPring-8 for your research
- reasons for your choice of beamline
- information about the competitive research grants (name of the competitive grants program, name of the organization inviting applications for the program, name and outline of the project for the program, name of the project leader, project period, amount of the grants, etc.)

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

Important Note:
In the case of a long-term grant program requiring beamtime in more than one research term, an application needs to be made every half-year research term.

5.3 Required Documents
a) SPring-8 Program Fee Payment Agreement and Confirmation Check Sheet
(submission required for each proposal application)
Please download the agreement form and the check sheet (PDF) from the UI site (Click here to download the PDF form), provide all the required information and send it to the Users Office by post (see 12. Contact) by the deadline specified in 6. Submission Deadline.

b) Research Purpose and Research Plan
(submission required each fiscal year)
Please make a copy of the relevant pages of application for the grants and send it to the Users Office by regular mail or by courier by the deadline specified below. You can also convert the file to PDF and email it to us. If it is not stated in the application that synchrotron radiation is necessary for the research, please provide a supplementary explanation. In case you need to apply for beamtime in more than one research term extending into the new fiscal year, please submit a copy of the relevant pages of the application submitted for the new fiscal year.

6. Submission Deadline

Deadline for online proposal submission:
         Wednesday, June 15, 2011, 10:00 am (Japan Time)

Deadline for document submission (research purpose & plan, Fee Payment Agreement, Submission Check Sheet):
         Wednesday, June 22, 2011

To avoid last minute technical problems and possible network congestion caused by heavy 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 12. Contact) before the deadline.

Upon successful submission, you will receive a confirmation email with a copy of Agreement (Rules for Users) in PDF format attached to it. 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.

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 the event that the total beamtime shifts required by all the approved proposals exceed the beamtime available to this program, approved proposals are prioritized in order of the size of the grant amount allotted to SPring-8 experiments. Please note, however, that this criterion does not apply when there is little likelihood that reasonable results will be delivered; the PRC determines which proposals are given priority.

8. Notification of Review Results

Users will be notified of review results by email or phone by Wednesday, June 29, 2011. 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 letter of approval will be sent to project leaders late August 2011.

9. Report Submission

From 2011B, users are required to submit an Experiment Summary Report online within 60 days after 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, please refer to 1.5 Matters of Particular Importance of the "Call for 2011B SPring-8 Research Proposals -Overview-."

10. Dissemination of Research Results

Publish your research in a refereed journal or equivalent (refereed proceedings, dissertations, etc.) and register the publication with the SPring-8 Publications Database.

UI site > Log in to My Page > Application/Reporting > After Experiment > Publications Entry

For details, please refer to 1.5 Matters of Particular Importance of the "Call for 2011B SPring-8 Research Proposals -Overview-."

11. Fees

Successful applicants are required to pay the program fee and the user fees (a fixed fee charged for wear and tear on the facility and a variable fee charged for coolants; gases; and stockroom reagents, parts and stationery).

- Program Fee: 131,000 yen/shift
- User Fees

For information about the User Fees, read the "Call for 2011B SPring-8 Research Proposals - Overview -."
Click here for more details.

12. Contact

SPring-8 Users Office, JASRI
1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun
Hyogo 679-5198 Japan
Fax: +81-(0)791-58-0965
email: sp8jasri@spring8.or.jp