SPring-8 is now accepting non-proprietary proposals for 2012A (April – July, 2012) using beamtime reserved for structural biology beamlines (BL38B1 and BL41XU). Interested applicants are encouraged to apply. Please prepare your proposal application using the following guidelines and instructions.

IMPORTANT:
Reserved beamtime has been additionally allocated at Structural Biology I Beamline (BL41XU)　for 2012A during the period from June through July 2012.

As part of our efforts to identify potential user needs and to enhance the convenience of our program, BL38B1 starts accepting non-proprietary grant-aided proposals (program fee: 131,000 yen/shift) in its reserved beamtime from 2012A. Non-proprietary grant-aided proposals are approved in preference to general proposals.

BL	Beamtime	Shifts	Deadline for Proposal Submission (Japan time)	Types of Proposal Accepted
				General	Non-Proprietary Grant-Aided (Deadline for document submission)
BL38B1	10:00 am, Apr. 19- 10:00 am, Apr. 20	3	Apr. 2, 2012 10:00 am		(Apr. 5)
BL41XU	10:00 pm, Apr. 22- 10:00 am, Apr. 23	1.5
BL38B1*	10:00 am, Apr. 26- 10:00 am, Apr. 27	3			(Apr. 5)
BL38B1	10:00 am, May 11- 10:00 am, May 12	3	Apr. 23, 2012 10:00 am		(Apr. 26)
BL41XU	10:00 pm, May 13- 10:00 am, May 14	1.5
BL38B1	10:00 am, May 16- 10:00 am, May 17	3			(Apr. 26)
BL38B1	10:00 am, May 22- 10:00 am, May 23	3	May 7, 2012 10:00 am		(May 10)
BL38B1	10:00 am, May 25- 10:00 am, May 26	3			(May 10)
BL38B1*	10:00 am, Jun. 1- 10:00 am, Jun. 2	3			(May 10)
BL41XU	10:00 am, Jun. 6- 10:00 pm, Jun. 6	1.5	May 21, 2012 10:00 am			added
BL41XU	10:00 pm, Jun. 14- 10:00 am, Jun. 15	1.5	May 28, 2012 10:00 am
BL41XU	10:00 am, Jun. 20- 10:00 am, Jun. 21	3				added
BL38B1	10:00 am, Jun. 21- 10:00 am, Jun. 22	3			(May 31)
BL41XU	10:00 pm, Jun. 21- 10:00 am, Jun. 22	1.5
BL41XU	10:00 pm, Jul. 2- 10:00 am, Jul. 3	1.5	June 18, 2012 10:00 am			added

*During the beamtime periods marked with an asterisk (*), the microspectrophotometer is installed at the beamline. Measurements can be performed as usual, but SPACE, the sample changer, will not be available during the periods. Please also note that the shortest camera length of the CCD detector is set to 150 mm.

Qualification Requirements:

[General Proposal]
Proposal submission deadline is set for each beamtime period, so that we can allocate the reserved beamtime as soon as crystals are grown. To be eligible, applicants must:

1. have the on-site responsibility for conducting research at SPring-8;

2. have experience conducting research at beamlines accepting reserved beamtime non-proprietary proposals (Support from the beamline scientist is limited to the bare minimum.);

3. submit a Radiation Worker Registration Form (Form 5-1) for FY2012 at least one week before the experiment; and

4. consent not to make changes to the "List of Samples, Reagents, etc." (online form) submitted at the time of proposal application. (due to lack of time to review the changes)

[Non-Proprietary Grant-Aided Proposal]
In addition to the requirements for general proposals, 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: 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.

*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).

Please note:
- 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.
- Proposals with a research grant designed to train young researchers are also invited.

Application Procedures:

Applicants (project leaders) are required to submit proposals online through the web-based proposal submission system on the User Information website (UI site).

UI site: http://user.spring8.or.jp/?lang=en

Log in to My Page with your user card ID number and password. Please note that only the project leaders can submit proposals. If a project team member needs to submit a proposal in place of the project leader, he or she must log in to the project leader's account. In this case, the project leader is responsible for managing his or her account information.

[General Proposal]
Step 1. After logging in, click NEW (Application/Reporting > Proposal/Use Plan Submission).
Step 2. On the next page, select the appropriate type of research ("Non-Proprietary Research") and "General Proposal" and go on to the next page.
Step 3. Choose "Reserved Beamtime" for "Type of Application."
Step 4. In the Basic Information page, make sure to choose the requested beamline and beamtime for "Reserved Beamtime"; e.g. BL38B1 (2012.04.19 10:00 - 2012.04.20 10:00) [3 shifts], and enter the requested number of shifts.

[Non-Proprietary Grant-Aided Proposal]
Online Proposal Submission:
Step 1. After logging in, click NEW (Application/Reporting > Proposal/Use Plan Submission).
Step 2. On the next page, select the appropriate type of research ("Non-Proprietary Research") and "Non-Proprietary Grant-Aided Proposal" and go on to the next page.
Step 3. Choose "Reserved Beamtime" for "Type of Application."
Step 4. In the Basic Information page, make sure to choose the requested beamline and beamtime for "Reserved Beamtime"; e.g. BL38B1 (2012.04.19 10:00 - 2012.04.20 10:00) [3 shifts], and enter the requested number of shifts.
Step 5. Please be sure to enter all required information on the Non-Proprietary Grant-Aided Proposal page: name of competitive grant program, name of organization inviting applications for the program, proposal title for which the grant has been approved, name of project leader, overview of the project, project period, and amount of grant.

Document Submission:
Step 6. Please submit the following documents.

a) SPring-8 Program Fee Payment Agreement/Supplementary Information*
(submission required for each proposal application)
Please download an agreement form and supplementary information 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 Contact).

b) Research purpose and research plan*
(submission required for each proposal application)
Please make a copy of the relevant pages of application for the grants and send it to the Users Office by post. If it is stated in the application that synchrotron radiation is necessary for the research, please provide the page number in the supplementary information sheet attached to the agreement. If it is not stated, provide a supplementary explanation in the sheet. In case you need to apply for beamtime in more than one research term, please submit a copy of the relevant pages of the latest application every time.

From 2012A, the research purpose and research plan and the supplementary information are required for each proposal application just like the SPring-8 Program Fee Payment Agreement. You may submit more than one reserved beamtime application at one time. In this case, please enter all application/proposal numbers in the SPring-8 Program Fee Payment Agreement/Supplementary Information, so that you only need to submit the document once.

[Multiple Applications]
You may want to submit more than one proposal just to be safe (because some of the deadlines are close to each other). If you wish to withdraw the other proposal(s) when any one of your proposals is approved, please so indicate in the box provided for the Abstract in the Abstract page of the application. (e.g. "If one of my proposals is approved for reserved beamtime, I would like to withdraw the other proposal applications.")

For instructions on how to fill out an application form, click here.

It is possible that the web browser crashes while working on an application, so you are strongly encouraged to draft your application offline first using a MS Word template.

For step-by-step instructions on how to submit proposals, please click here.

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, please contact the SPring-8 Users Office (see Contact) before the deadline.

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

Review Criteria
[General Proposal]
Scientific and technological significance, necessity of SPring-8 as a research tool, feasibility and safety of the experiment, and ethics (e.g. exclusively for peaceful purposes) will be fully peer reviewed.

[Non-Proprietary Grant-Aided Proposal]
The safety and technical feasibility of the experiment, the necessity to use SPring-8, and ethics (e.g. exclusively for peaceful purposes) will be reviewed. In the event that the total beamtime shifts required by all the approved proposals exceed the beamtime available, 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 results that are commensurate with the amount of allocated beamtime will be delivered; the Proposal Review Committee determines which proposals are given priority.

Notification of Review Results
Applicants will be notified of the review results by phone or email one week before their beamtime. The results are also sent in writing at a later date.

Fees:

*For details about the user fees, please click here.

Important Notes:

1. Be punctual and show up on time for the experiment. You may be requested to show up earlier to obtain instructions on how to use the beamline.

2. Conduct the beamline inspection together with the next user(s) when your beamtime is finished.

Contact:

SPring-8 Users Office, User Administration Division
Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI)
Fax: +81-(0)791-58-0965
email: sp8jasri@spring8.or.jp