Infrastructure > How to Apply?

• Check eligibility criteria
• Select infrastructure & contact infrastructure responsibles
• Check proposal submission deadlines
• Draft proposal (Scientific Case & Experimental Plan)
• Submit proposal via GATE
• Wait for Approval
• Plan and execute your experiments
• Submit Report
• Request Travel Reimbursement

1. TRANSNATIONALITY

VIPERLAB provides transnational access to physical research infrastructures to selected ‘user-groups’ led by a ‘user group leader’. This criterium does not apply to virtual infrastructure access offered in VIPERLAB.

Transnational access means: the user group leader and the majority of the users must work in a European country other than the country where the physical research infrastructure is located.

This rule does not apply:

• if access is provided by an International organization, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), an ERIC or similar legal entities
• in case of remote access to a set of installations located in different countries offering the same type of service.

2. FREEDOM TO DISSEMINATE RESULTS

Only user groups that are able to scientifically disseminate the results generated as a result of VIPERLAB infrastructure access are eligible to apply.

Exceptions for this eligibility criterium are only made for users working for SMEs (see below).

Please select a laboratory that suits your experiment and get in contact with the instrument scientist. 

Detailed information for all physical and virtual VIPERLAB infrastructures as well infrastructure responsible can be found under our infrastructures catalogue.

Pls note:When submitting your proposal, ensure to select the correct abbreviation of the infrastructure requested in the GATE application system.  A summary of the instruments can be found here.

A  call for user proposals for access to VIPERLAB infrastructures will be announced every year with a submission deadline and evaluation phase every quarter, as outlined in the sketch below.

		VIPERLAB GATE
		1st January 2022 – 28th February
		1st April – 31st May
		1st July – 31st August
		1st October – 30th November

Users working for or with industry of any size are welcome to apply for VIPERLAB access either as individuals or as part of a larger user group (e.g. with academic teams). Access is granted free-of-charge if the results of VIPERLAB access are published/disseminated with the exception detailed below.

SME USER GROUPS

Users working for SMEs are allowed to use results generated within VIPERLAB for proprietary research. Proposals submitted by users working for SMEs will undergo technical feasibility check and scientific evaluation as for all VIPERLAB proposals.

Proposals for user access to VIPERLAB infrastructures consist of a scientific case and an experimental plan.

SCIENTIFIC CASE

The scientific case is the main document used for the evaluation and ranking of user proposals either by the scientific committee (for access to physical research infrastructures) or the infrastructure access suppliers/supporters (for access to virtual research infrastructures).

This document should be written in English and on maximum 1 page contain the following sections:

1. Scientific context: Provide a clear description of the goals of the experiment within the framework of the broader scientific context.
2. Preliminary work: Briefly describe results of preliminary work carried out that support the necessity for further experiments/results from VIPELAB infrastructure access and detail the type of samples to be investigated (more details to be provided in the Experimental Plan).
3. Publications: List the 5 most relevant publications related to your experiment(s) to show that you either have carried out relevant work before by yourself and/or are aware of the work of others.
4. Choice of specific instrument/station: Justify, why you need to use the particular VIPERLAB infrastructure you apply for.
5. Scientific impact: Describe the expected scientific impact of the experimental work for the proposer, the infrastructure operators and for the scientific community as a whole.

EXPERIMENTAL PLAN

The experimental plan provides a detailed description of the experiment to be carried out at the VIPERLAB host infrastructure. As possible experiments are dependent on the experimental facilities to be used in the VIPERLAB consortium, the Experimental Plan should be always drafted in correspondence with the Infrastructure responsible.

The experimental plan needs to detail:

• Sample(s) to be investigated or prepared
• Parameters to be varied or investigated
• Estimated experiment time needed with justification

Note, that specific details to be defined in the Experimental Plan will vary dependent on the infrastructure requested so please make sure to contact the instrument responsible for further details and assistance when drafting your experimental plan.

For the submission of your proposal you will need the abbreviated name for the specific VIPERLAB infrastructure that you are requesting access for. Please check the Infrastructure catalogue or the technical description of the different physical research infrastructures and virtual research infrastructures.

Access the VIPERLAB-GATE single entry point and submit your proposal:

• Login or sign up if you are a new user to access your online application form.
• Before starting to fill in the application form, please read the  Terms & Conditions, read the  proposal application guide and carefully follow the instructions outlined.
• Create a new user proposal and submit your Scientific Case and Experimental Plan specifying personal details needed for the proposal evaluation and the  VIPERLAB infrastructure you are applying for. In case there are specific members of the  scientific selection panel that you do not want to review your proposal, you need to specify these in your application.

After proposal submission through GATE, users will receive an automated message confirming that the proposal was successfully submitted for evaluation.

The proposal will be evaluated by a  scientific selection panel of internal and external VIPERLAB experts in a  transparent, non-discriminatory, and fair process. The entire proposal evaluation process is handled via the by VIPERLAB-GATE platform in the steps outlined below:

Figure: Step by step evaluation procedure of user proposal submitted to VIPERLAB via GATE

EVALUATION PROCEDURE

The evaluation of VIPERLAB proposals is carried out in two steps:

1. Technical feasibility check (by the infrastructure responsible):
   1. “Feasible” proposals will be sent for evaluation
   2. “not feasible” proposals will be not considered further at this stage but users will be encouraged to resubmit revised proposals in the next round
2. Proposal Evaluation based on Scientific Case by the Scientific Selection Panel

Proposals for Physical Research Infrastructure Access will be evaluated by a Scientific Selection Panel consists of our external experts and additional VIPERLAB internal experts from the perovskite and/or silicon PV community.

Proposals for Virtual Research Infrastructure Access will be evaluated by the provider or technical support of the specific virtual infrastructure. These are specified under the description of VIPERLAB’s Virtual Research Infrastructure available.

EVALUATION CRITERIA & PRIOTERIZATION

The Selection Panel will evaluate and rank user proposal based on the  Scientific Case.

User proposals will be granted when the majority of reviewing experts and recommend the execution of the user proposal.

In case a proposal for access to a particular infrastructure is not granted due to:

• lack of scientific originality or importance: users will be encouraged to resubmit a revised proposal for the next evaluation round based on feedback from the scientific selection panel
• a particular infrastructure being over-requested: users will be considered and recommended to be granted access to equivalent VIPERLAB infrastructures or put in the “waiting list” for proposals to be considered for the next round of experiment time

If infrastructures are over-requested and several proposals are deemed of similar scientific quality, priority will be given to users or user groups who:

• have not previously used the infrastructure requested (new users)
• are working in countries where no equivalent research infrastructure exist

Academic and SME users are eligible for travel reimbursements (see details below). 

Once your proposal has been granted you can take steps to carry out your project as intended. Apart from planning your trip and preparing for the experiments, please make sure to discuss with your local point of contact (infrastructure responsible) about any other administrative steps that might be necessary.

Once your VIPERLAB experiments have been completed, you have to submit your experimental report to the instrument scientist using the report template 

Download the  Report template

Users of VIPERLAB infrastructures are eligible for a refund for travel expenses from VIPERLAB EU funding, if:

1. Access to infrastructures has been granted in the  evaluation process
2. Experiments at the VIPERLAB infrastructure have been completed
3. An experimental report detailing the experimental outcomes contribution has been submitted to the GATE reporting system for the granted project

VIPERLAB users will get a reimbursement for travel costs (up to 500 EUR per trip), accommodation costs (hotel/hostel: max. 100 EUR / night) and a daily allowance (max. 25 EUR).

Requests for travel reimbursements need to be submitted to and will be handled directly by the VIPERLAB partner where the experiments has been carried out.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

The user/user group declares to accept the following:

1. With respect to the submission of proposals within VIPERLAB project, the Selection Panel has the right to evaluate and rank the users’ proposals as they view best fitting the established evaluation criteria.
2. The decisions of the Selection Panel are final and non-negotiable. Inquiries or disputes surrounding the decisions of the committees will not in any way be considered.
3. By submitting an application or any request or by entering the premises of any VIPERLAB Access Provider, the user/user groups agree to the present Terms and Conditions as stated above.
4. The user/user groups confirm and certify that all information provided to VIPERLAB is true and accurate, and that they undertake to respect all VIPERLAB, EC and national rules and regulations, also in point of safety rules.
5. The user declares that none of the user group members is individually involved in providing access in the frame of the VIPERLAB project.

Revisions to Terms of User Agreement

VIPERLAB consortium may revise at any time the terms of this Agreement without notice.