Proposal Submission Process

– Standard Proposal – for all facilities;
– Fast-Track Proposal – for specific facilities.

This is the standard procedure for accessing LNNano facilities. The submission of proposals is carried out following the submission schedule of each facility. The user requests time for a specific experiment in a facility. The proposal is evaluated by one of the Internal or External Proposal Evaluation Committees.

If the proposal is approved, the user is given a limited amount of time to perform research.

This procedure aims to improve access to LNNano facilities for experiments that require little preparation and involve simple samples and safety requirements. The Fast–Track process is aimed at users who are experienced in the required technique and whose group, or principal investigator, has already had a proposal submitted and accepted. This procedure can be used to complete and/or complement experimental results for scientific publications or thesis work. It is necessary for the principal investigator to verify the technical feasibility of carrying out the proposal with the facility coordinator before submission.

For guidelines on submitting fast track proposals for Electron Microscopy/Cryomicroscopy click on Rules_FastTrack

Not all LNNano facilities offer the option of submitting fast-track proposals.

This type of call is intended for groups of researchers working on common themes in a given area of research and who require continuous analysis using the facilities of Electron Microscopy and Cryomicroscopy for the development of high-impact research projects. Each BAG (Block Allocation Group) proposal is valid for 2 years. Thus, once approved, researchers have two years to carry out their experimental activities. At the end of the first year, a report with the main results achieved must be submitted to the proposal evaluation committee, which will judge whether the group should remain in this system. In addition, members of the BAG proposal are not eligible to participate in other LNNano calls that address the same scientific aspect. For more information on the call and the evaluation process, visit the call description link.

To start the proposal submission process, the user must register in the SAU Online system. To create an account on the portal, the user must click on the “create a new SAU Online account” and provide personal and professional information.

Important: This registration only needs to be done once. It can be done regardless of the proposal submission period and the information provided can be updated at any time.

Once registered in the SAU Online system, the user must click on the link “Submit a new proposal” and follow the indicated instructions, choosing the National Laboratory and the installation for submission. You will need to fill out a general form online.

After submission, the proposal will be automatically forwarded to the User Support Service (SAU).

The research proposal analysis process is divided into different phases:

Phase 1: Internal evaluation of the proposal by the facility coordinator to judge the technical feasibility of the proposed experiment.

Phase 2: The facilities’ Internal Committees and External Proposal Evaluation Committees evaluate and rank the proposals according to the following criteria: scientific merit of the proposals and experience of the team, evaluation of previous proposals, and scientific publications based on results obtained previously at LNNano. The highest-rated proposals are recommended for receiving facility usage time.

Phase 3: Internal assessment by the safety committee, the proposal that presents a safety risk for execution will have to fill out a specific safety form and undergo an assessment by a safety committee that will make recommendations for carrying out the experiment.

Important: Given the importance of a scientific track record for the prioritization process, it is recommended that users check and update their publications both in the SAU Online system and in the CNPEM Library database. Updates to the library’s database must be made by sending the complete bibliographic information to the Library (producao.cientifica@cnpem.br). The publications are included after being checked by the library staff and facilities’ coordinators.

Important: The inclusion of master’s and doctoral students, as well as postdoctoral fellows in the proposals is encouraged. However, students and fellows cannot submit proposals. The proposal must be submitted by the group’s principal investigator, which must be a senior researcher. If a doctoral student wants to submit a proposal, there must be a senior researcher (preferably the student’s supervisor) as the project’s principal researcher.