24th CERIC Call for Proposals now OPEN
CERIC is calling for proposals for coordinated access to more than 60 instruments and support laboratories for research in all fields of materials, biomaterials and nanotechnology. The call is open to researchers from all over the world. In addition to the possibility to access several instruments through a single application, we offer support for mobility.
To apply, use the link “Submit a new CERIC proposal” in the Virtual Unified Office – VUO.
As usual, there will be two deadlines:
- March 3rd 2026 at 17:00 CET to have a pre-evaluation and the possibility to improve your proposal
- March 31st 2026 at 17:00 CEST final submission, recommended only for users that are expert in all the techniques requested.
Upgrades & Maintenance
Elettra 2.0
Starting from July 2nd, 2025 the removal of Elettra and the installation of the new Elettra 2.0 machine has begun at the CERIC Italian Parnter Facility. The new source will exhibit a major increase in the brilliance and coherence fraction of the photon beams. The Elettra 2.0 optics is based on our enhanced symmetric six bend achromat structure (S6BA-E) with a 12-fold symmetry and an emittance of 200 pm-rad at 2.4 GeV. The new structure creates also straight sections in the arcs permitting the installation of additional insertion devices, thus increasing the number of beamlines. Existing beamlines are being upgraded and new beamlines will be installed to take full advantage of the characteristics of Elettra 2.0. The new machine is scheduled for commissioning in the second half of 2026.
Hence, in the current call for proposals access will not be offered to the beamlines located at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, including the Austrian SAXS beamline.
Three offline beamlines will instead keep offering access:
- Inelastic Ultraviolet Scattering Offline laboratory (IUVS-Offline)
- Offline Synchrotron Infrared Source for Spectroscopy and Imaging – Chemistry & Life Science (SISSI-Bio OFF-line)
- Czech Materials Science Beamline (MSB) at Elettra offers offline photoemission experiments with a dual-anode (Mg/Al) X-ray lamp as photon source. Most of the end-station facilities described on the website remain available, please contact the local staff before submission.
Ruđer Bošković Institute
The ion beam Croatian facilty at the Ruđer Bošković Institute is undergoing a major upgrade to the accellarator bulding and is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year. Accepted proposals will therefore be performed at the earliest starting from the end of 2026.
CERIC continues to offer access to the following facilities:
- Microfrabrication Laboratory of TU Graz at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste
- 600 MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer (Bond) for solid-state research at the Slovenian NMR Centre in Ljubljana
For further information about the call, please visit https://www.ceric-eric.eu/users/call-for-proposals/