Access to Research Infrastructures - How to apply

Access to Research Infrastructures (ARI)

Transnational Access to Major Research Infrastructures - Eligibility of Research Teams

The objective of the activity Transnational Access to Major Research Infrastructures is to sponsor new opportunities for research teams to obtain access to the major research infrastructures most appropriate for their work, irrespective of where in the Member States or Associated States they or the infrastructure are located.

Research teams requesting access must submit to the infrastructure operator (the contractor) proposals describing the project they wish to carry out and the names and places of work of the researchers expected to take part. Only research teams conducting their research in the Member States or Associated States are eligible to benefit from access under the activity. The term "research team" means a group of one or more researchers not necessarily all coming from the same country. Researchers from third countries may participate in a project where the team leader and the majority of the team are from eligible countries.

Research teams conducting their research in the country of the contractor are not eligible. This exclusion will not apply to a contractor that is an international organisation or the Joint Research Centre. However, if a research team, composed of a team leader and of a majority of users from eligible countries, includes exceptionally some researchers from the country of the infrastructure, it will not be excluded.

All researchers within an eligible team (the "users"), irrespective of their nationality, are eligible to receive reimbursement of the travel and subsistence expenses related to their participation to the project. The prior agreement of the Commission is however required for any travel outside the territory of the Member States and the Associated States. This authorisation will be granted only in exceptional cases when duly justified.

Users will be expected to publish their results within a reasonable time in the open literature. As a general rule, users conducting proprietary research will not be supported under this scheme. An exception will, however, be made in the case of SMEs who wish to use a particular infrastructure for the first time.