Opportunities for Open Access

CERIC is open to researchers from all over the world, free of charge for non-proprietary research. In exchange for the free access, the users are required to publish the results of the experiments, with appropriate references to the CERIC facilities and to the local scientific and technical staff involved.

Read the CERIC Scientific Data Policy here

Semestral calls

Submission within the first deadline allows a pre-evaluation of the proposal at the facilities and, if necessary, two weeks for editing on the basis of the suggestions received, before final submission at the second deadline. Although we suggest taking advantage of the pre-evaluation, expert users may decide to submit their proposals directly at the second deadline.

Both single- and multi-instrument proposals should be submitted online through the Virtual Unified Office (VUO). The best projects will be selected by peer review through an independent and international panel of experts.

Access to CERIC is open to scientists from all over the world and free of charge. The only condition for free access is the publication of the results, with appropriate citation of the facilities and local contacts involved.

Proposals should be submitted online through the Virtual Unified Office (VUO). The best projects will be selected by peer review through an independent and international panel of experts. For further information about the evaluation and how to submit successful proposals, please use menu on the left side of this webpage.

In addition to the access to the facilities, as well as to the technical and scientific support from expert instruments’ scientist during proposal’s preparation, measurements and data analysis, partial support for user’s mobility is available through funding provided to CERIC from the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research. Read the policy here. A maximum of two users for measurement may benefit from travel and accommodation support.

Fast-track Access

Proposals eligible for this fast access modality should have a strong motivation for applying through this channel, satisfying one or more of the following criteria:

as for regular CERIC proposals, show a multi-technique approach of a scientific problem (although fast access can be requested for a single instrument)
prove the need to test a new instrument or sample,
be necessary to validate a result for an imminent publication, or
any other valid justification for a fast and short access.

Proposals can be submitted any time, through the VUO.

Please note that discussion of your experimental plan with the instrument scientists is mandatory.

Instruments available

For the moment, it is possible to ask for fast-track access for feasibility studies to the following instruments:

Synchrotron beam line in Trieste:

DXRL – Deep X-ray lithography
SAXS – Small Angle X-ray Scattering
SISSI-Bio – Synchrotron Infrared Source for Spectroscopy and Imaging
SISSI-BOFF – Offline Synchrotron Infrared Source for Spectroscopy and Imaging
XAFS – X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Laboratory scattering facility in Graz:

DLS – Dynamic Light Scattering
SAXS Lab Small Angle X-ray scattering facility in Graz
SLS – Static Light Scattering

Nuclear magnetic resonance facility in Ljubljana:

David – 800 MHz NMR spectrometer
Magic – 600 MHz NMR spectrometer
Lara – 600 MHz NMR spectrometer
Oro – 600 MHz NMR spectrometer
Aska – 600 MHz NMR spectrometer
Nika – 400 MHz NMR spectrometer

Surface physics laboratory at Charles University Prague:

EnviroESCA – Near Ambient Pressure Electron Spectroscopy
LYRA – Focused Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB-SEM)
HTC – Hydrogen Technology Center

Proposals can be submitted any time, through the VUO.

Please note that discussion of your experimental plan with the instrument scientists is mandatory.

Instruments available

For the moment, it is possible to ask for fast-track access for commissioning to the following instruments:

Elettra Sincrotrone, Trieste

IUVS-Offline – Inelastic Ultraviolet Scattering with fixed-energy sources