25th 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:
- September 1st 2026 at 17:00 CEST to have a pre-evaluation and the possibility to improve your proposal
- September 30th 2026 at 17:00 CEST final submission, recommended only for users that are expert in all the techniques requested.
What’s new in this call
Four nuclear laboratories of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) have just been added to the CERIC portfolio, allowing studies of neutron-induced reactions, irradiations in well-characterised neutron and gamma fields and accurate measurements of radioactivity for science and technology applications.
- MONNET Accelerator-based fast-neutron source
- GELINA Neutron Time-of-Flight Facility
- HADES Underground laboratory for ultra-low level gamma-ray spectrometry
- RADMET Radionuclide Metrology laboratories
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 Partner 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 first half of 2027.
Hence, in the current call for proposals access will not be offered to the beamlines located at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste.
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 https://www.elettra.eu/lightsources/elettra/elettra-beamlines/msb/manuals.html remain available, please contact the local staff before submission.
In addition, the following instruments continue to offer access to CERIC users:
Although the Austrian SAXS beamline located at Elettra is currently unavailable, SWAXS measurements are offered at the TUG SAXS instrument on an Anton Paar SAXS Point 7000 (Lab SAXS).
Ruđer Bošković Institute
The Croatian ion beam facility at the Ruđer Bošković Institute is undergoing a major upgrade to the accelerator building, currently in its final implementation phase. Consequently, approved proposals will be executed starting in the summer of 2027.
National Synchrotron Radiation Centre SOLARIS
Due to the ongoing expansion of the research infrastructure, the PHELIX beamline will not be available and is therefore excluded from the current call.
For further information about the call, please visit our website: https://www.ceric-eric.eu/users/call-for-proposals/
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/