How to gain access to European synchrotron facilities Liisa Porra, University of Helsinki / HUS

ESRF source is 100 billion times brighter than the X- rays used in hospitals X-rays are produced by the high energy electrons in a storage ring measuring 844 metres in circumference ESRF has 43 highly specialised experimental beamlines, with state-of- the-art instrumentation, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a wek. ESRF synchrotron source

Inaugurated in 1994 and supported by 21 partner nations 6,500 scientists from around the world visit the ESRF every year Experiments ranging from chemistry and physics of materials to archaeology and cultural heritage, as well as structural biology and medical applications, environmental science, information technology and nanotechnologies. 4 Nobel prize-winners among the ESRF users A record number of publications More than 25,000 refereed articles from the last two decades Nearly 2,000 publications per year, equivalent to around 5 every day 30% of the public research involves industrial participation Research at the ESRF

Member countries NORDSYNC 4%

Standard proposal One application - one experiment Proposal deadline 2 x year ‒ March for experiments starting earliest on August ‒ September for experiments starting earliest March (following year) Long Term Project (LTP) Project duration 1-3 years Number of experiments varies Proposal deadline once / year (January) ‒ Experiments may start earliest on August Industrial beamtime Price about € / 8h shift Applying for beam time: 3 types of proposals

Each application is reviewed by one or more Review Committees The Review Committees assess the proposals for their scientific merit or their technical, technological and/or innovative relevance The members of the Review Committees are specialists in related areas of science and are appointed by the ESRF management Beamtime is granted based on the assessments of Review Committees, but funding from the member country may have an impact to the results Proposal review process

Users affiliated to universities and publicly funded laboratories of ESRF contracting party (member) countries Travels, accommodation and pre-filled canteen card up to 3 users (4 for LTP) Local contact, who helps with the technical details and installation of the setup in the beamline Support with the laboratories (animal facility, chemistry lab) Support by the ESRF after the acceptance

Data collection and transfer All data needs to be saved and transferred by the user ESRF doesn’t provide long-term data storage Data belongs to the users The experimental reports Experiment report one year after the experiment ‒ Especially if you are planning to submit new proposals ‒ Annual and final reports for LTP projects ‒ Reports are public and indexed by Google After the experiment