Twinning Programme

The main goal of twinning is the transfer of knowledge necessary to function in the environment of RI, including organizational and technical skills, between a new user and an experienced research group.

In a NEPHEWS Twinning Programme experienced user groups volunteer to host “novice users” (NU) during their experiments, while similar scientific interests guarantee that the new users can gain “tailor-made” first-hand experience. This will facilitate the development of their own scientific programme at a NEPHEWS facilities and the submission of their own subsequent scientific proposals. In the best case a twinning campaign is the starting point of a long-term collaboration.

Both sides might benefit – the less experienced user through learning about RI techniques, the more experienced group from gaining extra help with an experiment or extra scientific input from a group working in similar areas.

Each new user in the Twinning Programme will spend about a week with the host user group, being directly involved in the experiment conducted on-site. For the twinning guests the travel and subsistence costs are covered by the NEPHEWS project.

NEPHEWS will provide 135 twinning actions at 18 RI.

In the NEPHEWS project, we support scientists at every level of their scientific career (R1 – R4):

• R1: First Stage Researcher (up to the point of PhD),
• R2: Recognised Researcher (PhD holders or equivalent who are not yet fully independent),
• R3: independent researcher,
• R4: leading researcher, assistant/associate/full professor or equivalent.

Priority criteria

NEPHEWS has a special focus on offering support to users from 8 selected countries, other EU Widening countries and countries without direct access to large scale research infrastructures in their country.

Access priorities:

• First, financial support for travel and accommodation will be offered to users whose affiliation and nationality comes from one of the 8 selected countries (Estonia, Finland, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine).
• Secondly, financial support for travel and accommodation will be offered to users whose nationality comes from one of the 8 selected countries (Estonia, Finland, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine).
• In addition, support will be offered to users whose nationality is from other Widening countries or in countries without RI.
• In the next step, support will be offered to subsequent groups of qualified users (if the available amount of support allocated in the project is not used).

We will match less- and more-experienced users, based on their science areas.

NEPHEWS will put the two sides in contact with each other; it will then be up to them to sort out the practicalities of how they work together.

The process of matching new users and experienced research groups who have received beamtime to conduct an experiment on one of our RIs is carried out in several steps, with the full support and assistance of User Offices of the facilities participating in the Twinning Programme.

Steps:

1. 1. A new user (NU) registers via on-line form, which is available below. The form (user profile) is automatically sent to our database. The form (pdf file) is also sent automatically to the NU, to the e-mail address provided in the application.
   2. The User Offices of the RIs participating in the programme check the database on an ongoing basis and compare user reports with the applications that received beamtime. For internal purposes, we create a list of experienced groups that received a beamtime and are willing to participate in the programme and accept new users.
   3. When we find a potential match between profiles from our database and the hosting group’s applications, we will contact them and provide them with registered profiles (without providing your personal data).
   4. When we find a potential match between the profiles of registered users from our database and the hosting group’s application, we will contact NU with a request to send the profiles (pdf file received during registration) directly to the hosting group representative.
   5. The group can select one user from the submitted profiles. We will inform you about the results of the selection process.
      • If you are not selected, we will match your profile to other approved applications.
      • If you are selected by the group, you will join it and conduct measurements on one of our infrastructures.
   6. After completing the measurements, we will ask you to complete the evaluation form and send it along with documents confirming the incurred costs to the User Office of the infrastructure where the measurements were carried out.
   7. The RI that hosted you will reimburse your travel expenses.

If your application has successfully passed the connection process with the host group and you have carried out measurements together on one of our infrastructures, you will be covered by financial support.

The Twinning Programme covers:

• Travel expenses (one round trip/person)
• Accommodation (up to 7 days).

Users who have received or will receive funds for the same purpose (travel and accommodation) from other sources cannot apply for support under the NEPHEWS project (Principles of Double Funding).

Project partners participating in the Twinning Programme may have their own procedures for providing support.

Reimbursement is handled by each facility in line with internal rules. Please check whether the infrastructure where you stayed does not require to fill a reimbursement form.

If so, the users which was qualify for financial support should return the completed form to the User Office of the visited infrastructure (with invoices and receipts of travel and accommodation expenses).

For our documentation and reporting to the European Commission, all users applying for financial support are asked to complete the evaluation form.

It should be return to the RI User Office together with documents mentioned above in the reimbursement section.

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