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.
Only the Principal Investigator or Alternate Contact on your proposal can submit the Session Investigators form in UAS. To be included as a Session Investigator you need to:
Be aware that Diamond is working under specific arrangements during the pandemic and up to date information can be found here.
Please click here for more infomation regarding our User claims procedure
Please follow the link to our Health and Safety video and test. This must be completed before you can be added as a Session Investigator to come to Diamond.
There are no facilities at Diamond for you to complete this test on site.
Once you have registered in the UAS and been attached to a session by your PI or AC you will automatically receive a Fed ID and Password. This will supersede your email log in and password.
All samples and equipment your bring to Diamond must be declared on the ERA and this must be validated before you come to site.
All electrical equipment brought to Diamond must carry a valid PAT testing sticker.
Please note - Diamond is not able to enter into material transfer agreements as a recipient for any materials or samples which a user will be bringing to Diamond. Users are responsible for ensuring they have the correct licences, approvals, and materials transfers in place that may be required prior to conducting research at Diamond and for providing copies of same to Diamond.
Often it is simpler, safer and more cost effective to ship samples to Diamond. If the sample is declared on a validated ERA you can ship it to Diamond following the guidance of the HSE.
Please follow the guidance given in the Sample Shipment section on the Before you Arrive page.
You can bring radioactive samples to site, subject to them being declared on a validated ERA. Please see the section on Safety Requirements on this page for full details.
Users are expected to make their own travel arrangements. Where Diamond is due to pay the costs, travel should be by the most economic and practical means.
Please see our policy and guidance on Travel, Subsistence and Accommodation for full information.
Please contact the User Office if:
Diamond continues to welcome all users to submit proposals and participate in experiments here. Users are welcome to come to Diamond for their research from anywhere in the world.
Funding for visits will continue as it did pre-Brexit, with users from EU organisations potentially being eligible for funding as stated in the Diamond expenses procedure, found here.
Visa guidance
If you are a non-UK user you may need a visa to visit the UK.
If you are from the EU, the current rules state that you are allowed to travel to the UK for 6 months or less without needing a visa so you can continue to visit Diamond under the same arrangements as before Brexit.
A letter is available should you wish to support your visit, please contact the User Office for more information.
If you are non-UK/EU, you may need a visa to visit the UK – please check here to see if you will need to apply for a Standard Visitor visa.
A Standard Visitor visa allows you to undertake certain business activities such as attending a meeting or conference or to gather information for your employment overseas. You cannot do paid or unpaid work for Diamond (including work placements and internships). A Standard Visitor visa allows you to stay for a maximum of 6 months per visit. For further information please see the official guidance here.
If you require a visa to travel to Diamond please contact the User Office who can provide a letter of support once the session investigators form has been submitted and you are on it.
Diamond do not reimburse any costs associated with obtaining a visa.
Please see our policy and procedure on Travel, Subsistence and Accommodation for full information.
If you are eligible for fincial support from Diamond:
Breakfast is provided with all accommodation bookings made by Diamond.
Tea, coffee, drinking water, milk and sugar are available in all the Diamond kitchens with no charge.
Vending machines are provided in the kitchens in zones 3, 7 and 11.
While the Diamond machine is running, meals can be obtained in the:
Please note, while the Diamond machine is not running R22 closes at 16:00 on Friday and reopens at 07:30 on Monday.
Once the Investigators form is submitted in UAS the User Office will make all accommodation bookings you have requested. Where Ridgeway House is not available, the User Office will book alternative local accommodation as well as making open taxi bookings to facilitate travel to your accommodation as necessary.
If you no longer require your room, please inform the User Office and the Hotel as soon as possible. Otherwise, you/your institute will be charged if you fail to do so.
Once the session has been booked, all session investigators will receive an email presenting the booked arrangements. The email will specify where you are staying and full information on accommodation and taxi bookings. In addition it contains a link to the session in UAS.
If you no longer require your room, please inform the User Office and the Hotel as soon as possible. Otherwise, you/your institute will be charged if you fail to do so.
Any costs incurred due to failure to read the email and linked information will not be reimbursed by the User Office.
Once a session has been booked you are no longer able to make changes to the team. Should it become necessary to change the personnel arrangements for a session, you must inform the user office of these changes giving at least 24 hours’ notice. Please note; changes of this nature, should only be made in exceptional circumstances and can only be made during the opening hours of the User Office.
In the case that an allocated session does not become available to the user due to the malfunction of the Diamond soure or beamline, Diamond cannot guarantee that such lost time will be reallocated.
Action will be taken to mitigate against the consequences of the lost beamtime.
Full details can be found in the Guidelines for Cancelled Beamtime document.
You can identify the Local Contact for your session at Diamond in UAS.
The Local Contact is the scientist at Diamond who will train you and help you with your experiment here.
You can find details to contact your Local Contact by phone or email from within the appropriate instrument on the Diamond website.
Diamond has a team of Experimental Hall Coordinators (EHCs) who provide a 24 hour service, ensuring the smooth running of the Synchrotron Building.
If you have any problems out-of-hours the EHC on duty will be able to contact the on-call scientist to support you. Often it is the EHCs who will support you with requests for products such as gases and liquid nitrogen.
The EHCs are also trained first aiders.
If you are unsure what to do, and are not able to contact your Local Contact, the EHC is a good person to ask for advice. They are available on extension 8787 from any Diamond phone.
Diamond reviews all accidents and near-misses regularly to improve our processes. Please ask your Local Contact or an EHC (8787) for an Incident Report Form which should be completed and given to the Local Contact or EHC who will pass it to the Diamond SHE team.
Should you observe any unsafe condition or act, please report the situation to your Local Contact/Experimental Hall Coordinator as soon as possible.
If you discover a fire, please sound the alarm by activating the nearest break glass.
The fire alarm is a ringing bell, followed by a recorded message that will inform you to evacuate the building. Please leave the building by the nearest exit and go to the muster point. If you are in the synchrotron building this is at zone 1, underneath the link bridge. If you are in Diamond House this is in the car park at the front of the building.
If you require first aid, please see the list displayed in each beamline to identify a first aider who can provide assistance.
If you are unsure, please contact the experimental hall coordinators on 8787.
You shall:
See the Diamond Health and Safety rules here
Working alone at Diamond is strongly discouraged, particularly where the experiment is complex or more hazardous. However, in some circumstances lone working is necessary. Please inform the EHCs (8787) who can ensure they make regular checks. If you are lone working and leave Diamond, please notify the EHC so they know this is no longer necessary.
We review all user feedback regularly at Diamond. After each session the Principal Investigator, Alternate Contact and Team Leader will be prompted to provide Diamond with feedback through UAS.
All proposals require a report once the session scheduled in that proposal are complete. The Principal Investigator and Alternate Contacts will be prompted to do this in UAS.
Please include any Diamond employees as authors in your publication if they have made a significant contribution to the published research.
In addition, please acknowledge Diamond with the statement:
"We thank Diamond Light Source for access to beamline XXX (proposal number) that contributed to the results presented here."
All session investigators who are eligible for finanacial support will receive an email from the online claims system. Please see the claims section of this page for full details of how to claim.
Please note: all claims must be recieved within 3 months of the session end date.
If you require any infomation on Health and Safety at Diamond please click here
The PI or AC can add this person to the session retrospectively, providing they are registered. If the person is newly registered for this purpose, the PI/AC/PBS should also request via email to the User Office that the user gets sent a Fed ID as this will not happen automatically due to the session being historic.
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