Users from European organisations continue to be welcome to submit proposals to Diamond. The same funding policy and procedure for expenses remains in place for any visit to Diamond as was in place before Brexit.
EU funding for proposals
We are active members of iNEXT for EU Users (see guidance on what acknowledgements needs to be included in publications here). We have additional advice for members of the EU Structural Biology community here.
Block Allocation Groups or BAGs are a mode of access whereby a group of users are awarded Diamond access which spans a 2 year period of four six-month allocation periods (APs), but can continue for longer.
BAGs have proved to be a remarkably effective access route for groups of users who require regular access to Diamond instruments and wherever consortia of users can work together. A common situation would be where complete and useful datasets can be collected in minutes, but where facilities have to award whole shifts (8 hours) or days. Administration of BAGs takes place in the Diamond User Administration System (UAS).
BAGs can enable measurements to be made in a more timely and efficient manner. Awarding a BAG allows users to organise themselves and set their own priorities. Successful BAGs grow out of strong collaborations, sometimes between a number of different organisations.
Diamond is keen for BAGs to be formed wherever it can be shown to be appropriate. Indeed, where a consortium of users has a consistent track record of successful exploitation of Diamond, a BAG may be viewed as the default access mechanism.
BAG proposals should be considered the normal mode of access for MX and eBIC proposals.
All BAG proposals should be submitted online in UAS.
For a guide on how to review the BAG stages see here.
BAG Roles and Responsibilities - see below
As we are still working off the issues around BAG progression we provide the BAG submission guidance here.
Please consult this document and align the stages of the BAG with your BAG progress in UAS - this will show you what to submit for AP35.
Each BAG has one lead Principal Investigator (PI). This is the person who has overall responsibility for the BAG. The PI will be an experienced senior scientist who directs research projects.
Ultimately the PI is responsible for:
The role of AC is reserved to experienced acdemic representatives from a collaborating institution or to a scientist/post-doc who has a delegated role to administer the BAG. A BAG can have a number of Alternate Contacts (ACs) who have permissions in UAS to carry out all the administrative tasks on behalf of a PI. They are included in all communication sent by the UAS to the BAG along with the PI.
An AC may also be a supporting PI (not a defined role in the UAS) on the BAG, who will be required to contribute to reporting results from the BAG’s experiments.
Anyone who is part of the proposal but is not the PI or an AC will be registered as a Co-Investigator (Co-I). Since a BAG can rapidly get very large the list of Co-Is should be limited to only academic scientists and post-doctoral scientists directly involved in the BAG.
A PI can add a person to the proposal and assign them the 'ERA admin' role. The enables the person to edit and submit ERA items (Samples, Equipment, and Experimental Methods) and view the proposal, but they cannot edit other proposal information or access scientific data (unless granted access by being added to specific sessions).
External collaborators and students can participate in the experimental sessions at Diamond as part of the BAG.
BAG Reports
BAG reports are submitted for every allocation period proposal stage, every 6 months, and a 18 month report is submitted for work done for the previous 3 APs period (continuing BAGs). The Peer Review Panels go through large numbers of proposals during their review and reports need to be succinct and provide concise information on what was achieved during the experimental period being reported on.
Participation in other Proposals
It is not usual for a member of a BAG to be on another proposal. Where the nature of the measurements is such that the two proposals are readily distinguishable this is permitted. If a member of a BAG submits a proposal for a measurement type that is already covered by the BAG a clear justification is required to explain why this work cannot be carried out under the BAG proposal.
Accepting new BAG Members
It is expected that, if an institution has regular access to a specific measurement type through a BAG, that BAG will welcome new members from their institute or institutions in close geographical regions.
Possible changes to BAG constitution
If a BAG is becoming too large, please propose a sensible division (i.e. one BAG per faculty) to Diamond and we will assist in forming two BAGs where one used to exist.
If a number of BAGs undertake similar research and are of a certain size and/or constitution the Peer Review Panel/Diamond may consider and advise on whether a merger is necessary.
During the two years of a BAG, it often becomes apparent that this mode of Diamond access is very useful to the members of the BAG and continuing proposals frequently become the norm. In order to enable continuous Diamond access for the BAG it is necessary to apply for the new BAG by the end of the third allocation period of the current one. The new proposal will be evaluated during the fourth AP of the current one. If awarded, beamtime for the new proposal will begin immediately after the end of the current one, leading to a continuous workflow (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Steps in a Continuing BAG
Period |
Activity |
Detail |
What is submitted? |
-2 AP |
BAG proposal for experiment in 1st AP |
At this stage the proposal is created and submitted within the Diamond User Administration System (UAS; uas.diamond.ac.uk). It is at this stage that the overall scientific programme for the BAG is presented for review. The scientific case for a BAG is only reviewed and graded once in its life cycle. Alongside the scientific case for support, there should be a justification of the instrument time that will be required to deliver the science proposed in the overall BAG research programme. In addition, a specific request should be made for the time needed in the first 6-month period. |
The BAG proposal, including science case, and request for beamtime in the 1st AP |
-1 AP |
Request for BAG beamtime for the 2nd experimental period
|
At this stage it is necessary to:
|
Request for time in the 2nd AP
|
1st AP |
1st experimental period |
During the 1st allocation period it will be necessary to:
|
6 monthly report
(depending on when in the period the experiments took place)
|
2nd AP |
2nd experimental period |
During the 2nd allocation period it will be necessary to:
|
6 monthly report
|
3rd AP |
3rd experimental period |
During the 3rd period from the BAG was first proposed a new BAG proposal needs to be prepared and submitted (1st submission of the continuation). Often this process will be a case of ensuring the accuracy of and updating the initial proposal. In addition, the report for the third allocation period becomes an 18 month report, enabling the panel to make a clear assessment of the work that has been achieved in the BAG to date. |
18 month report
New Proposal for continuing BAG (for 5th AP – 1st experimental period of continuing BAG) |
4th AP |
4th experimental period |
At this stage it is necessary to:
|
Request for time in the 6th AP
6 month report |
5th AP |
1st experimental period of cont. BAG |
During the 5th allocation period it will be necessary to:
|
Request for time in the 7th AP
6 month report |
6th AP |
2nd experimental period |
Process continues as above |
|
This cycle can be continued ad infinitum, provided the peer review panel remain happy that the science being proposed is of high quality and the BAG are making good use of the access being awarded.
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