Rough call schedule
A rough outline of the regular call schedule is shown in the table below:
| Call opening
| Call closing | Results | Access period |
| May | July | November | January to June |
| November | January | May | July to December |
Types of access
Proposals may be invited for the following modes of access:
- Direct Access (one to four weeks one-off access within a six-month period)
- Continuation of Approved Programmes (update on progress for the next six months)
- Lasers4EU Direct Access (one to four weeks one-off access within a six-month period, with additional submission to Lasers4EU)
- alternative access routes for international applicants such as EuroBioimaging, or RIANA
Eligibility
Eligibility for these modes of access are as follows:
- the main applicant must be a UK academic for regular Direct Access (including postdoctoral researchers) or a non-UK academic for Lasers4EU Direct Access
- the main applicant must hold a position that lasts for the duration of the scheduling period
- PhD students can be co-investigator, but not the main applicant
Guidelines
Please carefully read all the information in the LSF call guidelines:
Then, please use either of the below template document which follow the formatting guidelines:
LSF direct access template document
LSF programme approved template document
It is recommended that you contact an appropriate facility staff member ahead of time to help strengthen your application. This may include obtaining proof of concept data and verifying technical feasibility. See the web pages for Octopus staff and techniques, and Ultra staff and techniques to find an appropriate contact for your proposal.
Additional lab access for chemistry or biological sample preparation laboratories can be arranged with your link scientist. Please discuss this before submitting an application if it is vital to your experiment.
Safety is key to all operations in STFC. Please discuss your physical, chemical and biological requirements for your sample and its environment prior to submitting an application so that they can be reviewed for feasibility. Risk assessments will be requested and reviewed prior to access.
It is recommended to start submission early, as your progress can be saved. Submission includes completion of multiple pages of questions relating to your access, as well as the attachment of a scientific case.
Facility Access Panel
Follow the link below to find out more about CLF Facility Access Panels.
Alternative access routes
If you are not eligible, or need access before the next round, please contact us to discuss alternative routes.
For UK and EU academics, please see our academic access pages:
Alternatively, here are some schemes that may be active and can provide access to the Octopus or Ultra facilities:
Research Infrastructure Access in Nanoscience & Nanotechnology (RIANA) for multi-facility projects (including Octopus and Ultra) to study materials which have a functional component in the nanometer scale (<200nm):
canSerV through the Euro-Bioimaging UK node, which offers access for UK and EU academics to Octopus for specific support in the framework of cancer research.
Find the specific support on the canSERV website (currently listed as provided by King’s College London, who are the leader of the UK node)
For industry, or academics collaborating with industry, there may be multiple other routes open to you. Here are schemes that may have updated calls:
Analysis for Innovators (A4I) for a measurement or analysis problem where you are seeking a solution to improve your business’s productivity or competitiveness:
Analysis for Innovators (A4I)
BBSRC-STFC facility access funding for bioscience partnerships for UK business and academic partnerships, supporting access to STFC expertise and world class facilities to solve industrially relevant bioscience challenges:
BBSRC-STFC facility access funding for bioscience partnerships
Industry Impact Fund (I2F) to support UK industry through access to STFC facilities and scientific expertise:
commercial and industrial beamtime access at contract rates for industry:
Data analysis
Octopus does provide some data analysis if granted in the application.
FAQs
General questions
While we list the life, environmental and materials sciences as our main areas, we will be happy to advise on the feasibility of scientific projects from any area.
Samples
Yes, a full risk assessment will be completed for all hazardous samples (chemical and biological) ahead of time to ensure the correct control measures are in place.
Applying for access
Access is primarily geared towards research teams led by UK scientists. Scientists from the EU may get access via common UK-EU programmes such as Lasers4EU and Euro-BioImaging.
There are two principal access routes. One route is geared towards academic scientists, the other is designed to support UK businesses. Businesses may access the facility via the industrial user route.
After applying
Please talk to the CLF User Office in the first instance about anything that is not science-related.