Loan Application FAQ

General Overview

Who is eligible to borrow the equipment?

The equipment is available on loan to researchers from UK universities and research institutes. The equipment can also be hired by researchers from outside the UK and from the commercial sector.

What is the cost of hiring the equipment for a commercial application?

No charge is made to UK academic and NERC institute applicants, with the exception of the Headwall Co-Aligned UAV system. Commercial rates will be charged to applicants from outside the UK and from the commercial sector. For details of current commercial rates, please contact the FSF Operations Manager.

How do I apply?

All applicants are required to submit a Loan Application form. Applications for use in connection with postgraduate studentships should be made by the student’s supervisor.

When do I apply?

To facilitate scheduling of instrument loans completed application forms should be sent to the Facility a minimum of 12 weeks before the start of the requested loan period. Applications are reviewed at the following deadlines:

  • 1st November – for loans in the “Summer” period (March to August)
  • 1st June1 – for loans in the “Winter” period (September to February)

How can I borrow one of FSF’s UAV systems?

With the exception of the Headwall system (see below), you can apply for a UAV system through the same application process as with other equipment. The only additional requirement is that you must have a competent pilot. Guidelines for pilot competence can be found here.

Do you provide training for the UAV systems?

Like all of our equipment, we will train you in the operation of the spectroscopy equipment, with best-practice, science leading techniques. We can advise on how best to operate the UAV with the attached equipment, but we do not teach you how to fly a UAV. You must ensure you / your pilot meets the FSF pilot guidelines when you come to Edinburgh for training.

Can I apply for FSF’s Headwall Hyperspectral Imager?

The Headwall Co-Aligned UAV system is currently only available when written in to a NERC grant application. This is due to the expense of the system, and the additional technical requirements in planning and flying this system.

Loan Application Stages

Stage One – Browse our Equipment Catalogue

Consult our instrument catalogue to determine what you would like to loan. We have a large range of equipment, with a wide range of applications. If you are unsure where to start, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us and ask for some advice.

Stage Two – Contact Us

Once you have an idea of what equipment you require, and what you would like to use it for, the next step is to get in contact with us. From here, we can start to work with you to develop a working plan for your research / project.

Stage Three – Submit an Application

If you are looking to submit an application to a UKRI funded Announcement of Opportunity via the UKRI Funding Services (TFS), and wish to include facility support as part of that, the following application submission pathway must be followed:

  1. After contacting the facility to ensure that the facility can provide the instrument for your application, please request a Technical Letter of Support. This will provide a breakdown of the support that the facility will provide, including instruments that will be used and an associated cost to NERC that must be included in the application.
  2. Within the UKRI Funding Service portal, the proposed use of a facility should be entered in the application by copying and pasting the name of the UKRI facility into a free text box (from the list of facilities provided in the application), including the proposed usage/cost taken from above.
  3. All facilities and infrastructure costs should also be included in the “Resources and cost justification” section of the application.

For direct access loans, potential users of equipment are requested to complete an application form. The form requests information about the proposed project, and asks for details of any fieldwork, and for an outline of the science case and methodology surrounding the proposal. Please note that loan dates must allow time for transporting of equipment from and to Edinburgh. Submit your application in time for the review dates as mentioned above.

Stage Four – Review Process

Once you submitted an application, it will be reviewed at one of the above dates by our steering committee. Here, it will be assigned a grade based on the grading system used by all NERC Services and Facilities. If you are successful in your application, we will be in touch by email to offer you an equipment loan! This is subject to a number of conditions outlined on our application page.

Allocation of Grade

All applications are sent off by the FSF Operations Manager for review by the Steering Committee. The applications are then awarded a grade by the reviewers, with additional consideration given to the views of the reviewer who is an authority in the application’s research domain. The grades from each reviewer are collected together and the median grade is assigned, moderated by the Chair and Director of FSF, and are NERC advised of the SCs recommendations. NERC S&F will then advise the principal investigator of the outcome of the application.

The grading system used by the FSF Steering Committee corresponds with the new grading system used by all NERC Services and Facilities. If a grade is awarded, the application is of high scientific merit and is of such novelty and timeliness and promise as to be likely to make a signifiant contribution to the subject.

  • Grade 10 – The proposed work is outstanding and represents world-leading standards in terms of quality, significance and scientific impact. Highest priority for funding.
  • Grade 9 – The proposed work is excellent and represents world-class standards in terms of quality, significance and scientific impact. Very high priority for funding.
  • Grade 8 – The proposed work is very good, contains aspects of excellence, and represents high standards in terms of quality, significance and scientific impact. High priority for funding.
  • Grade 7 – The proposed work is of a good quality, internationally competitive, at the forefront of UK work and has a high level of scientific impact. Should be funded if possible.
  • Grade 6 – The proposed work is of a good quality, on the borderline between nationally and internationally competitive, and has a good level of scientific impact. Potentially fundable*.
  • Grade 5 – The proposed work is of a good quality, has some scientific merit and addresses useful questions, but is not at the leading edge. It is suitable for funding in principle but in a competitive context is not a priority.
  • Grade 4 – The proposed work is of a good quality, has some scientific merit, but has a number of weaknesses. Not recommended for funding.
  • Grade 3 – The proposed work is of a satisfactory quality. It would provide some new knowledge, but fails to provide reasonable evidence and justification for the proposal. Not recommended for funding.
  • Grade 2 – The proposed work is weak in terms of quality, significance and scientific impact, and has only a few strengths. Not suitable for funding.
  • Grade 1 – The proposed work is of an unsatisfactory quality and is unlikely to advance the field. Not suitable for funding.
  • Grade 0 – For special cases, e.g. flawed in scientific approach, subject to serious technical difficulties, does not address operational risks, sufficiently unclearly written that it cannot be properly assessed, success depends on the project student, is duplicative of other research, or not suitable for the scheme.
  • R – Potentially exciting and worthy of funding but requiring clarification of specific aspects or minor amendments before a final decision can be made. A Principal Investigator whose application has been rejected may be invited to resubmit if the Committee considers that insufficient information has been supplied for a grade to be given and if there is sufficient potential in the proposal for it to be significantly stronger when reformulated.

Post Successful Application

Training

We provide fully customised, one-to-one training courses tailored to suit each individual’s needs. We also provide refresher courses for those who have not used the equipment for over 18 months, or for users of the equipment who feel that they may have forgotten certain aspects of the techniques involved. Training courses are run in Edinburgh at the FSF Laboratory, where researchers will be shown how to assemble and operate the equipment, as well as given instructions on how to process data that are collected. Users are expected to provide their own transport to Edinburgh for the training sessions. For new users, training usually takes from 10am til 3.30pm and refresher courses typically last 2-3 hours, but this can vary depending on experience and knowledge.

Transport of equipment

It is our policy that users are responsible for organising the transport/shipping/couriering of the equipment from and to Edinburgh, at the start and end of their loan period. The easiest and most secure way is for the equipment to be couriered to your Institution. We are happy to provide advice on transport issues. We would recommend looking at Inter Parcel, they are agents for DHL, UPS and other recognised carriers, and provide extremely competitive prices, we have found them to be very good.

It is up to the user to contact the Facility to inform us of the date and time of pick up. The equipment will be available for collection on the first day of the loan. Please contact us first for the dimensions and weights of your shipment.

If you are taking the equipment abroad we can provide you with the necessary customs documentation, however, the user is entirely responsible for the transport of the equipment. We cannot arrange for the equipment to be shipped overseas directly from Edinburgh, we would expect the equipment to be couriered to your own Institution and then transported from there. When requesting your loan dates, allow enough time for the transport of the equipment.

Technical Support

If at any time during or after your loan, you require assistance or advice from FSF regarding any of the equipment, please do not hesitate to contact the FSF Equipment Manager during normal office hours. We can provide comprehensive technical support for all of our instruments, and are always happy to provide advice to users on best practice in spectroradiometry. Full support is also provided (where necessary) to users of FSF data processing software.

Should you encounter a technical malfunction of equipment during your loan, you MUST contact the FSF Equipment Manager immediately. You should not attempt to fix instruments in the event of a malfunction. The Facility has the expertise to perform small repairs, but where optical and computer equipment is concerned, repairs must be performed by the manufacturers in order to ensure that the instrument is not damaged further. In the unlikely event of a instrument failure, the equipment concerned will have to be returned to FSF, where the damage will be assessed, and the relevant action taken.

Loan Reporting, Publications and academic achievements

  • Instrument performance report: This form will be given to you as part of your loan package, once the loan has finished, the user should complete this form and return it to FSF with the equipment.
  • Loan report form: This form must be completed and returned to the FSF Operations Manager within 3 months of the loan end date. It provides us with information on the data that was collected and number of days the instrument was used in the field and is very important for our records.
  • Science report form:

Publication is the prime indicator of science supported by FSF and therefore, an important means by which the value of the facility to the scientific community is judged.

All equipment loans should be fully acknowledged in any publication or presentation. It is suggested that the following wording or similar be used “ … (user name) .. gratefully acknowledge the loan of equipment to carry out this research from the Natural Environment Research Council Field Spectroscopy Facility”.

Where appropriate co-authorship with FSF staff should be sought. Please keep us updated on your publications (including PhD theses and non referred publications) which discuss or describe results obtained through the use of FSF equipment. Please send FSF hard copies of all journal articles, conference proceedings, book chapters, posters and other promotional material featuring work performed using FSF equipment.

Complaints procedure

If you have a complaint relating to the FSF facility please let us know in writing by post, or contact us directly by email at fsf@ed.ac.uk. .

Any problems or complaints should be initially raised with the FSF Operations Manager or the Head of Service. In the event that you wish to contact NERC directly regarding a problem or complaint, please visit the UKRI complaints procedure website and fill out the form provided.

  1. If your project requires an emergency loan outwith the usual application deadlines, then – depending on current loan scheduling – the facility may be able to support you. Contact the facility for further details. ↩