Open Access

Since 2017, scientists can apply for Open Access beamtime at the HiLASE Centre. Beamtime is free of charge. At least one call for proposals is launched every year. Proposals need to be done via the electronic HiLASE Open Access Proposal Management System. The project proposal contains information about the research team (including the curriculum vitae of the PI), a description of the project, the duration of the experiment, a working plan, the role and expertise of each group member, and a list of potential risks and ethics issues due to the nature of the experiment (see sample document).

Successful proposals will get access to the HiLASE Centre research infrastructure. As an important condition for access, after the experiments, the users must follow User Publication Policy a Scientific Data Policy.

After having completed their experiments, users are requested to fill out the Project Summary Report and submit it to user.office(at)hilase.cz. For experiments supported by Laserlab-Europe please use this form. For other experiments please use the Project Summary Report Form.

To apply for beamtime, please proceed as follows:

  1. Register as an user in the electronic HiLASE Centre Open Access Proposal Management System. Tick the box “Send e-mail notifications”. You will receive a confirmation of your registration.
  2. Login into the system and start you application via “My proposals” → “Submit a new proposal”. You need to fill entire proposal to be able to submit it. Do not forget to read carefully the declaration at the end. If needed you can enclosed PDF documents to the proposal. You can interrupt the application anytime. This will create a proposal draft which you can complete later on.
  3. Would you like to apply for the Laserlab-Europe Transnational Access? Please click the “laserlab Access” Button on the page “CONDITIONS”. Submit the proposal. Download a PDF copy of your application. Use the Laserlab Online Proposal System to submit your application. At the last step, attach the PDF copy of your proposal generated by the HiLASE Centre Open Access Proposal Management System.
  4. Read carefully the Detailed Description of Research Infrastructure.
  5. We encourage you to contact an appropriate staff member – Scientist in charge (for contacts see Detailed description of research infrastructure), to discuss your requirements (laser parameters/ target area requests etc.) prior to submission of project proposal. In particular, any non-standard configurations or technical requirements should be discussed. In order to provide a technical feedback to the Facility Access Panel, please make sure that you provide as many experimental details as possible in the project proposal.
  6. Successful application submission is confirmed online immediately and via email.

If you have issues with the HiLASE Centre Open Access Proposal Management System or you need any support from our side, do not hesitate to contact USER LIAISON OFFICE: user.office(at)hilase.cz, tel.: 00420 314 007 724.

The review of project proposals proceeds in three steps:

  1. Formal evaluation and internal technical assessment – internal evaluation within the HiLASE Centre under the responsibility of the RI Open Access Manager
  2. External evaluation and scoring – only technically feasible proposals will be evaluated by the Facility Access Panel (independent international board of experts) – for every proposal 2 independent experts are selected. The FAP evaluates the project proposals according to the criteria based on the Laserlab-Europe evaluation procedure within the four main areas: Originality and relevance; Qualification of researchers; Appropriateness of experimental approach, procedure and method; Overall rating, scientific value. The resulting score is equal to the average of the two evaluators. The overall rating is on the scale 1-100: Outstanding (100-90), Excellent (89-70), Good (69-40), Poor (less than 40-not recommended).
  3. The Head of the HiLASE Centre informs the applicants about the decision, provides them with anonymised review reports, and informs them about further steps in order to start negotiations over the scheduling slot. For accepted proposals, the actual duration of the experiment is confirmed as soon as possible. The scheduled beamtime should, in general, be completed within next 12 months.