ACCESS

In general, we recommend that our users are trained to use the instruments themselves. This is because the person who is doing the research has the best understanding of the sample and the research question. After basic training is completed, we encourage our users to work with senior, or more experienced, members of their own groups to optimize their use of the instrument and to assist with their experiment design.

Please note that some instruments are regularly booked weeks in advance. This is particularly true in the second half of the year when many 4^th year students are finishing their projects. It is important that users plan ahead to ensure that they will be able to complete the work they need to do.

Steps to becoming a New User

1. Attend a New Project Meeting to determine your microscopy and training needs (it would be helpful if your PhD supervisor could also attend).
2. Attend your first training session at the scheduled time.

Access charges 

These rates apply to all academic users within QUB.
Before any work is commenced the user is required to fill in the User Booking Form which must include a project code and the supervisor’s authorisation.

Charges for external user are twice those listed above.
Microscope charges for commercial users entail a minimum charge of £500+20% VAT for all activity.

Consultancy Fees: £850 + VAT in addition to microscope usage charge.
Full technical assistance: £450/day

If you are planning to submit a grant application for a research project that may require any of these instruments, we encourage you to contact us to discuss how we can help.

TRAINING

All training will be carried out under supervision from an EMF staff member or in some cases an expert user from your own research cluster.

USER CATEGORIES:

_{* Training and driving test are specific to the microscope.}

BASIC BOOKING RULES

• Bookings will normally be accepted up to 4 weeks in advance;
• Once a session is completed users are free to book the next available session;
• Normally, users will not be allowed to book more than a full working day per week on each type of instrument in advance;
• Under special circumstances in the case of longer experiments two or more days in a row may be booked;
• Users are expected to start sessions on time and are asked to notify EMF staff promptly of any changes to free up the booking for other users.

ACKNOWLEDGE US

When writing up your research, please remember to acknowledge the role of our facilities and expertise. Acknowledgments demonstrate that investments in equipment and people have led to important outcomes. Your publications, presentations, and posters are a vital part of the business case for ongoing funding of our microscopy facility. Here is a sample of correct acknowledgement:

"The authors acknowledge the facilities and the scientific and technical assistance of the Ewald Microscopy Facility at Queen’s University Belfast."