1. Please contact the facility directly, mentioning that you are enquiring in connection with the NNUF funded access scheme.
- Discuss with them the practical feasibility of conducting your research at their facility/using their equipment (e.g. can your research question be addressed using their facility? How many days of experimental work would this be likely to involve? Is the facility likely to be available during the time period you had in mind? What training / support with operation do they provide? What are their health and safety requirements?) Please use the facility feasibility checklist to structure these discussions.
- Some facilities may have their own quality-checking process, even for applications which will go on to be submitted for the NNUF funded user access scheme. They will let you know if your research proposal needs to pass the facility's own quality control checks at this point.
2. In order to be considered for funding under the NNUF access scheme, you will then need to complete a simple application form, in which you should emphasise the relevance of your proposed work to the UK's nuclear mission. When completing the application form, you will be asked to include an email exchange between yourself and the facility in question, confirming the feasibility of undertaking your proposed research using the facility. Please ensure that the facility has seen and approved the final version of your application form before you submit it to NNUF.
3. On a quarterly basis, the Management Group will review all applications received, using scientific merit as the primary metric. The Management Group will inform applicants, and the manager of the selected facility, of the outcome of all applications.
