Photon Factory welcomes an application of research proposals from all over the world. The due dates of the proposal submission are set twice a year (May and November) except for U, P and S1 categories.
Updated: Nov. 9th, 2022
| Categories |
Status |
Deadline for submission |
| G (General), S2 (Special-2), T (Ph.D.student) |
Closed |
Nov. 9th(Wed.) 13:00 (in Japanese Standard Time)
Proposal submission system |
U (Urgent & Important),
P (Preliminary), S1 (Special-1) |
Opened |
no due date (accepting at any time)
Proposal submission system |
See below link for the information of applying research proposals using Photon Factory. The detailed explanation of the categories is also described there.
Call for Proposals using the Photon Factory
IMSS publicly calls for the experiment proposals in which no less than two of the four beams, synchrotron radiation at PF, slow positron at the Slow Positron Facility, neutron and muon beam at the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF) in J-PARC, are required to be used, as Multiprobe Experiment from 2015. For more details click below link.
Call for Proposal - Multiprobe Experiment(IMSS)
Guidelines for filling the application form
- All application should be done by "KEK Proposal Submission System" (except Type S1). Please refer to the instruction and/or the operation manual on the system.
- A proposal is mainly evaluated based on its scientific merit and technical feasibility of the research plan. You should clearly express what you plan to carry out during the valid term of the proposal.
- The application will be reviewed based on the description on the form. Please include a full description of the experiment.
- Proposals including two or more projects which do not have strong scientific relation should be submitted separately. For example a proposal including protein A and protein B that have little biological relations, should be divided two independent proposals.
- Please fill application in either English or Japanese.
Proposal title
A simple and concrete title is required (not comprehensive). Imagine the title that may be used in a paper for the result.
Contact Person in Japan (CPJ)
Applicants who do not understand Japanese are required to assign a contact person to act as an intermediary with the Photon Factory. His/her approval to act as CPJ is obligatory. The contact person should live in Japan and be a Japanese speaker. The contact person will ensure that the application procedure runs smoothly, and will also assist with visa procedures, reservation of accommodations etc. If you do not know any appropriate person for the Contact Person, the person in charge of the station you want to use can help you find candidates for CPJ.
Detailed information
[Significance, aim, originality and expected outcome of this work (including why you need Photon Factory]
You can upload this section by a PDF file.
- Take care to make it understandable to other fields' scientist.
- Significance and background
- Why is the material important?
- Why is the development of the method important?
- Aim of your project
- What kind of information are you planning to obtain?
- If the result is obtained, what is clarified and how does it contribute to the progress of science and/or technology?
- Originality
- Expected results and expected influence effect
- The explanation why the methods are suited for the research.
- Why is the Photon Factory needed?
- Is it impossible to perform this experiment with laboratory equipments?
- Advantages compared to other methods must be mentioned.
[Proposed experimental method and layout (schemes can be included). The reason why you choose the station or required beam specification (photon energy, flux, beam size, etc). Justify the requested amount of beam time.]
You can upload this section by a PDF file.
- Put drawings when special set-up is planned. PDF files of drawings & figures can be uploaded by using the upload button at the bottom of "Detailed Information" card.
- Describe the feasibility of the experiment semi-quantitatively.
- Write down the answers to the questions the referees are likely to raise in reviewing.
For example,
- Can it be measured? (Estimated intensity of signal should be clarified if possible)
- Has sufficient examination been done?
- What kind of measurement method is planned?
- The reason why you choose the station and need the requested beam time should be written.
[List of samples (Obligatory). Remarks and safety measures against possible hazards (chemicals, biological materials, radiation, high voltage, high pressure, contamination of vacuum, etc.).]
- List the materials' names, shape, quantity and safety.
- If they are hazardous, describe appropriate safety measures. Especially regarding highly hazardous materials (flammable gas, toxic chemical substances, radioisotopes), the safety measures discussed with the persons in charge of the station and its safety should be specified.
- Safety measures regarding conditions such as high temperatures, high voltage or high pressure should be specified as well as samples if any risks are estimated. If there is a possibility that ultra-high vacuum chamber may be contaminated, safety measures must be specified.
- If the materials are from living organisms, please write the following information.
- Origin species, pathogenicity and toxicity
- When using animals in your experiment, specify that they are admitted as appropriate according to The Animal Experiment Committee of your institution.
[Accomplishment and/or publications in your previous research programs in related fields. Status of sample/equipment preparation.]
Mainly the status and the experience of your group (not the general status in related field) should be written.
- Relationship with previous work in your group.
- Status of preparation for equipments, samples etc.
- Status and result of preliminary experiment.
- Publications for your previous research in PF should be describe here and the Record No. of that in the PF publication database should be written in the next section.
[Publication No. of your publication in PF Publication Database or KEK Publication Database]
- From October 2015, the new KEK Publication Database was launched. However, for the time being, we accept the Record No. of the old PF Publication Database as well as the Publication No. of the new database.
- If you have publications for your previous research in PF, please input the Publication No. in the PF Publication Database or KEK Publication Database.
- If you have not registered your publications in the KEK Publication Database, please register them before submission the proposals, and fill in the Publication No. here.
[Financial support concerning this research project]
- If you have any financial support concerning this project please describe here.
- Overseas applicant should describe about the expected financial support for traveling to PF.
Proposal review and scoring
Proposals are reviewed by referees, then in the Photon Factory Program Advisory Committee (PF-PAC). Proposals are scored between 5 and 1 (5 is the highest). Those above threshold are approved by PF-PAC. A proposal is evaluated based on its scientific and technical merit, technical feasibility of the research plan and capability of the experimental group. The approval of a proposal means that it is evaluated to be worth doing by PF-PAC. However, please mind that the "approval" does not always guarantee the allocation of beam time you wrote in the application form.
PF-PAC pays more attention to the productivity of the proposing user groups when reviewing the proposals.
In case a spokesperson has more than three approved proposals that validity periods were expired between 1 year and 6 years ago from when the applied proposal becomes active,
- Spokespersons who haven't registered their publications on more than half of the approved proposals are asked on the reason why they haven't done yet.
- According to the reply, PF-PAC analyzes the reasons and considers the score.
- Proposals without any reply to the inquiry are rejected.
