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Applying for beamtime - Narodowe Centrum Promieniowania Synchrotronowego SOLARIS

Users

The autumn call for proposals is now open

Applying for beamtime

The spring call for proposals will open on 1 March 2027.
Researchers may submit their proposals until 1 April 2027 at 23:59.
 
SOLARIS announces an open call for standard and long-term proposals twice a year:
  • The spring call (deadline for proposal submission is beginning of April) is for experiments to be performed in the semester from September of the same year till February the following year.
  • The autumn call, (deadline for proposal submission is beginning of October) is for experiments to be performed in the semester from March till August of the following year.


The call for rapid access proposals is conducted on a continuous basis. 

Beamtime applications are submitted through the SOLARIS User Network (SUN) portal.

Available types of proposals:

Standard: offering beamtime to a single scientific project.

  • For synchrotron beamlines: from 1 to 18 shifts (8 hour=1 shift)
  • For Cryo-EM: from 2 to 4 experimental shifts (1-day= 1 shift)

Long-term: used for projects requiring repeated access to the infrastructure over an extended period of maximum 3 experimental semesters. This applies in particular to PhD thesis projects that contribute to the development of the beamline and projects focused on the development of new experimental methods or specific instrumentation. If you have suggestions for other subject for long-term project please feel free to contact beamline/infrastructure responsible for further discussions.

  • For beamlines: maximum number of 8 hour shifts is 36. During one experimental period maximum available shifts is 18
  • For Cryo-EM: maximum number of 1-day shifts is 8. During one experimental period maximum available 1-day shifts is 4.

Rapid access – possibility to receive the research time apart from the standard procedure but under very strict conditions:

  • willingness to check the feasibility of the project through test measurements,
  • the necessity to supplement the experiment previously performed in SOLARIS within a call for standard and long-term proposals,
  • the necessity to perform the experiment immediately due to potentially high scientific value of the results.
If none of the above cases apply, you should submit an application in the spring or autumn.
 

Additionally, losing access to local research infrastructure as a result of force majeure (such as natural disasters, acts of terrorism, acts of war, or other events of a similar nature) enables you to pick the option of performing your rapid access experiment remotely on chosen beamlines (assuming it satisfies the rapid access conditions).

Beamtime applications are submitted through the user portal SOLARIS User Network (SUN). We strongly recommend discussing the feasibility of planned experiments with the scientist responsible for certain infrastructure prior to the submission of a proposal, in particular, if you are a new user.

 
Scientists are also welcome to submit their application to SOLARIS through the CERIC - ERIC call for proposals, using the Virtual Unified Office (VUO). All details can be found here: https://www.ceric-eric.eu/users/call-for-proposals/
Access to CERIC-ERIC is open to researchers from all over the world through two Calls for Proposals per year organized in the same time as at the SOLARIS.
In addition to the possibility to access several instruments through a single application, CERIC offers support for mobility, accommodation for two people per research group and awards for high quality open access publications.
 

NEPHEWS project support

NEPHEWS (read more) - New user-oriented project that supports free access to European Synchrotrons, Free Electron Lasers and Neutron facilities.
If you are a scientist who applies for the beamtime at SOLARIS and your affiliation is in Widening country or a country without large research infrastructure, this project is dedicated to you.


Follow the link below to see a list of "EU Widening Countries".
https://rea.ec.europa.eu/horizon-europe-widening-who-should-apply_en


Terms and conditions:
The NEPHEWS support offers reimbursement of costs for travel and accommodation for two persons from the user group whose affiliations are as above. After measurement, it is mandatory to complete a short evaluation survey and send it to the NEPHEWS team to receive reimbursement.
In order to provide information about qualifying for support in the NEPHEWS project, please indicate your consent to contact in your profile on the SUN platform.
* I agree to receive (by e-mail) information on calls for applications for access to research infrastructure located at and/or related to NCPS SOLARIS and the CERIC-ERIC Consortium.


When your proposal will reach the evaluation threshold and the beamtime be granted, the NEPHEWS team will contact you directly with further guidelines.

NEPHEWS

Terms of applying for beamtime in Expert Commissioning Access mode:

Part of the infrastructure is available under dedicated Expert Commissioning access mode, for which special criteria apply:

  • Prior to proposal submission, potential users should contact beamline staff to discuss the beamtime details.
  • The researchers coming to the SOLARIS should have the expertise necessary to be able to contribute to the development of the beamlines capabilities.
  • The researchers coming to the SOLARIS can preferably contribute with expertise not already available in the beamline group or at SOLARIS.
  • The commissioning expert users accept that commissioning of the beamline capabilities has preference over conducting the specific experiments that the researchers may have suggested.
  • The commissioning expert users accept that scheduling and rescheduling may occur with short notice.
  • Scientific excellence of the proposed experiment is regarded as a plus, but not a necessary requirement of a commissioning experiment.
Modification date 02/10/2026 - Dagmara Chylewska-Olech