1.1 Spokesperson (Spokesperson)

Spokesperson must satisfy one of the following institutional classifications:
・Faculty members, researchers, or technical staff affiliated with domestic or foreign universities or public research institutions.
・Researchers at private enterprises that permit open-access academic research and public dissemination of results.
・Individuals recognized by the Director of the Institute of Materials Structure Science (IMSS) as possessing equivalent qualifications.

Mandatory Administrative Prerequisites: All spokesperson must meet the following compliance and safety requirements prior to application:

・Radiation Worker Registration: Must be eligible for formal registration as a radiation worker at the host facility.
・Insurance Coverage: Must hold valid liability insurance and casualty insurance.
・Security Export Control Compliance: Must comply with Japanese laws and regulations regarding Security Export Control (individual eligibility will be determined separately if applicable).

1.2 Special Eligibility Requirements for Doctoral Student Applicants as Spokesperson (Standard Type Only)

Effective from the FY2024 First-Half proposal call, doctoral graduate students currently enrolled in domestic Japanese universities (including second-year Master's students scheduled to advance to a doctoral program by the official start date of the project validity period) are eligible to apply in the capacity of spokesperson under the specific conditions detailed below.
Note: Graduate students enrolled exclusively in foreign universities are not eligible to serve as Spokesperson under this specific policy.

・Scope: Doctoral student applicants are eligible to apply as a spokesperson for Standard Type projects only. (Application as a Project Leader for Expert Type projects is strictly prohibited.)
・Prior Experience & Facility Contact: Applicants must possess prior operational experience using the target probe. Applicants wishing to utilize neutron or muon beams must contact the MLF Instrument Scientist in advance prior to proposal submission.
・Supervisory Roles & Application Form Formatting: Applicants must list both an Academic Supervisor (AS) and an Experiment Supervisor (ES) as official experiment participants. In the application form, the designations "AS" (Academic Supervisor) and "ES" (Experiment Supervisor) must be explicitly appended alongside the official job titles in the respective job title fields.
* Job Title Field Entry Format: e.g., "Professor (AS)" or "Associate Professor (ES)".
・MLF On-Site Supervision Rules:
[!WARNING] Mandatory Supervision Requirement at MLF: Graduate students are strictly prohibited from conducting experiments alone at the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF). An eligible Experiment Supervisor (ES) must be present on site.
・Eligible ES Personnel: The Experiment Supervisor must, in principle, be the Academic Supervisor, a staff member from the applicant's home institution, or a co-researcher.
・Restrictions: Graduate and undergraduate students cannot serve as an ES. Co-researchers designated as an ES should, in principle, not be beamline staff members.
・Pledge Submission Requirement: Upon proposal selection and prior to conducting the experiment, formal written pledge forms using the designated Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility / Photon Factory (MLF/PF) format, signed by both the spokesperson (doctoral student) and the Academic Supervisor, must be submitted to the facility administration.

1.3 Experiment Participants

General experiment participants must satisfy the following eligibility criteria:
・Graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, or staff members who fulfill all mandatory administrative prerequisites outlined in Section 1.1 (Radiation Work Registration, Liability and Casualty Insurance, and Security Export Control Compliance).
・Undergraduate students scheduled to enter graduate school by the time the project becomes active/valid, provided that their prospective graduate advancement is explicitly documented in the participant list.

There are two types of experiment as of FY2027.

We accept expert type and standard type applications in the first half of FY2027.
(a) Application: Designated application forms (WORD) are downloaded here:
 Expert type  Standard type.
(b) Deadline: Nov. 5, 2026 (Thu) 1:00 PM (JST)
We accept proposals from 8th April (Wed), 9:00 (JST).
(c) Submission:
· Please send the completed application form of WORD or PDF flie to kyodo1[at]mail.kek.jp 　 (Research Collaboration and User Support Division).
· The e-mail should be titled [Multiprobe_proposal(spokesperson’s name)].
· In case the email becomes 3MB or more, please inquire about the other address to the office in advance.
· After submission, Research Collaboration and User Support Division will send an e-mail to notify that the proposal is received. 　
· Please contact Research Collaboration and User Support Division if you do not receive the confirmation e-mail within three days.

* Exceedingly important proposals (both of two types) can be received at any time.
(Expert type / Standard type.)

4.1 Screening Methodology by Project Type
Proposals are evaluated through distinct review tracks based on the selected project type. Final decisions regarding proposal adoption/rejection as well as numerical scoring/grading are determined by the Program Advisory Committee (PAC) of each relevant probe.

Project Type	Review Procedure	PAC Approval & Scoring Determination
Expert Type	Evaluated via an oral hearing conducted by five (5) or more reviewers.	Requires formal review, scoring, and final approval by the Program Advisory Committees (PAC) of all involved target probes.
Standard Type	Evaluated via a written review conducted by two (2) to three (3) reviewers per probe.	Subject to written review, scoring, and final approval decision by the Program Advisory Committee (PAC) of each respective target probe.

4.2 Evaluation Criteria
Proposals shall be evaluated based on the following criteria:
1. Academic value and scientific originality
2. Technical feasibility of the proposed experiments
3. Capability and expertise of the experimental team
4. Relevance and integration with the overall research plan
5. Specific significance and necessity of utilizing multiple probes

[!IMPORTANT] Peaceful Use Mandate:
All joint use experiments conducted across IMSS facilities are strictly limited to peaceful purposes.
Consequently, proposals with military applications or non-peaceful objectives shall not be accepted or approved.
This restriction is based on Resolution No. 3 of the 33rd extraordinary general meeting of the Physical Society of Japan (Butsuri, 23 (1968) 250) and the decision of the 522nd committee (Butsuri, 50 (1995) 696)

・Mandatory Disclosure: Experimental results must be publicly disclosed through peer-reviewed academic journals, official IMSS Activity Reports, oral presentations at academic conferences, or equivalent public channels.
・Acknowledgement Requirement: All published papers, conference presentations, and reports resulting from the beamtime must explicitly acknowledge that the research was conducted as part of the Multi-Probe Joint Use Experiments.
・Reference Guidance: Detailed instructions regarding research result publication and reporting guidelines are available at: http://www2.kek.jp/imss/guide/result.html (available in Japanese text only).

・Post-Experiment Reporting: Spokesperson are required to submit a final report following the completion of the experimental project.
・bmission Instructions: Specific submission procedures, formats, and deadlines will be provided separately by the administration.

Ownership of intellectual property rights arising from or developed during these joint use experiments shall be determined through negotiation on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the Intellectual Property Regulations of the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK).

 8. Inquiries should be sent to:

Research Collaboration and User Support Division
High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK)
E-mail: kyodo1[at]mail.kek.jp

Kenta AMEMIYA
Director, Center for Integrative Quantum Beam Science (CIQuS), IMSS-KEK
E-mail: kenta.amemiya[at]kek.jp