2024 3rd Call (August Round) for Proposals of GIMRT Collaborative Research

New GIMRT program, Covis: Co-research visit
GIMRT is operating a new program Covis from FY2022. It is to combine the short term
research visit(Type S) and guest professor ship(Type G) of International Collaborationcenter(ICC-IMR). By using this scheme, the oversea team can stay for longer period and afew members could come together. It would be the route to form a strong international
research team. Those who are willing to apply for Covis, first submit Type S proposal andwrite the need for Covis in the application. Then contact to GIMR user office and consult
with GIMRT coordinator about your plan. By the guidance of the coordinator, thecandidate is requested to apply ICC-IMR for guest professorship. There are two kinds ofguest professor, one with salary and one without salary but with title as guest researcher.
As for FY2024, we will open 10-15 positions for Type G.
Combination with Young Fellowship of ICC-IMR
The maximum stay of the GIMRT program is expected to be one month judging from thetravel support amount. For oversea PhD student and young researcher who are willing tostay 2-3 months, additional support by ICC-IMR young fellowship is possible. If you apply,
please submit both GIMRT single visit and ICC-IMR young fellowship.

1. Outline and objectives of international collaborative researchInstitute for Materials Research (IMR) was reorganized in 1987 as a National
Collaborative Research Institute. To contribute materials science community in Japan,
IMR has provided open accesses for its original world-class facilities, instruments, andknowledge of materials science for researchers belonging to universities and research
institutions nationwide. Since FY2010, IMR have been authorized as a “Joint Usage /Research Center for Materials Science” by the Japanese Government.
In November, 2018, IMR’s Global Institute for Materials Research Tohoku (GIMRT)
program was certified as an “International Joint Usage /Research Center for Materials
Science” by the Government. In this new international collaboration scheme, GIMRT willplay the role as a core institute for the collaborative researches in materials science
communities in both national and international levels. GIMRT offers open access to IMR’s
resources of materials science for global researchers through variety of researchcollaboration programs and bridges domestic and overseas researchers for multi-coreinternational collaborative research.

2. AreaFirst of all, please choose one from following 5 proposal areas and ICC-IMR sorted bysection/center where users run their collaboration researches.
(1) Standard collaboration at Research Divisions and Groups(2) IRCNMS : International Research Center for Nuclear Materials Science(3) CRDAM : Cooperative Research and Development Center for Advanced Materials(4) HFLSM : High Field Laboratory for Superconducting Materials(5) QBCMR: # Quantum Beam Center for Materials Research(6) ICC-IMR : International Collaboration Center*There is no open call at Center for Computational Materials Science this time.
#QBCMR has started on July 1st by integrating Center of Neutron Science for Advanced Materials and Center for
Advanced Light Source and Materials Science

The area (1) is to perform collaboration with IMR members of each research divisionand group without using facilities at research centers. In areas (2)-(5), users use facilities
and instruments installed in research centers. The area (6) accepts visiting guest
professors, research fellowships for PhD course students and proposal for workshops. For
details of each area, please read the related guideline. The amount of financial support isindependent of area choice.
In area (1), there were sub-categories, 1) Challenging Research, 2) General research,
3)Challenging project, 4)Workshop. The general research is the standard one to whichmost of user should apply. Those who stays in Japan for a long-term research visit suchas visiting professor can apply for Challenging project. If one stays in Sendai, some amountof research consumable (maximum 0.2 MJPY) can be applied instead of the travel
expenses. We accept limited numbers of Challenging projects and the budget will be below
0.5 MJPY for each.
The workshop must be applied to ICC-IMR by sending a related application from by email. For details, please visit the web site http://www.icc-imr.imr.tohoku.ac.jp. The
application form is common between GIMRT and ICC-IMR. The review committee will
differentiate workshop proposals into two categories during the review process, GIMRT
workshop and IMR workshop. For example, a joint workshop between IMR and someoverseas institution opened only to limited members will be categorized to IMR workshop,
which is supported by IMR internal budget.
A challenging research is a proposal consists of only young members of 40 or younger asof 1st Jan. 2024. The filling rate which will be determined by the review scoring will beraised for a challenging research. To use this benefit, please state that one is going to apply
a challenging research in the beginning of your proposal (background, purpose section).
The challenging research can be stated for any of areas (1)-(5).
Under the current situation, the cost of the travel may be much increased than before
and GIMRT will apply a range of flexibility for the upper limit of the travel budget
allocation.

3. Types
For each area, there are several different types of applications which are differentiate bya content of collaboration team, a range of support and places of researches. It issummarized in the table of overview of GIMRT program, which can be found at theapplication web site: https://gimrt.appli.imr.tohoku.ac.jp.
(1) Type S : Basic single visit is the standard application to support a research visit toIMR. There is no special form for Type S, but any proposal applied for areas (1)-(5) istreated as Type S proposal. In another word, all overseas applications will be treatedas Type S proposal automatically. The request amount of your travel support should
be written in the research plan section. The estimated airfare, length of stay(howmany days?), expected visiting time(when?) and staying expense/per day and the total
amount of support request should be indicated. In case a student and a staff scientist
visit IMR together, the budget is added.
(2) Type O : Type O supports a research visit of young scientist of Japan to performresearch at overseas institutes. The program provides opportunities to conduct
researches in abroad. It requests a stay of two weeks or longer and does not support
a travel to attend only an international conference. In the current pandemic situation,
the combination of research visit and participation for conference can be accepted.
There is no clear age limit is set, however, we do not expect an application from awell-established full professor level researcher. Moreover, a priority will be given to
younger researchers below 40 years old in the review process.

(3) Type B(domestic) : Bridge proposal is an additional proposal to ask an additional
travel support for a multi-core collaboration research. Hence, a Bridge proposal
should be combined with a Type S proposal. In the bridge domestic, one can request
a travel budget to support Japanese collaborators who will join your research at IMR
or at some non-Tohoku Univ (TU). institutions. Examples of such non-TU institutions
are J-PARC, JRR3 and SPring-8 where IMR is operating instruments. Anotherexample is a home institution of one of your Japanese collaborators involved in yourproposal, where a complemental collaboration research should be conducted. In theType B document, necessity of such multi-core collaboration must be stated.
If you do not need an additional support, but is going to have a short stop at thehome institution of your collaborator on the way to/from IMR, you can state that planin the Type S proposal. The range of support for this additional part may differ fromcase to case and GIMRT may ask you to submit Type B proposal in some cases. If you
have any questions, please consult with GIMRT user office by sending an e-mail.
(4) Type B(overseas): In Type B overseas, one can combine Type S and Type O. Overseas
researchers visit IMR by the support of Type S and a young scientist of Japan visits
overseas institute by the support of Type O. The contents of Type B(overseas) fromcontains the contents of Type O form. Therefore, one should submit Type S and TypeB(overseas) forms for this type.
(5) Type B(special): This is the special type of proposal at IRCNMS to conduct material
irradiations at overseas institutions. It will be coordinated by IRCNMS and is not a
standard user application program.
(6) Type W(workshop): Type W is an application for domestic/international workshop
organization. The maximum support are 1, 1.5 and 2 MJPY for domestic,
international and the large size joint (domestic and international) meetings. In thejoint meeting, one can support both domestic and overseas participants, but the lattermust be more that 2/3 of the total budget. In international ones (international or joint),
the language must be English throughout the meeting. The budget can be used fortravel support of overseas participants, a printing cost such as abstract booklet and acost for a venue. When a conference is supported by multiple sources, it should bestated clearly in the application. We also support online or online-onsite hybrid typemeetings. These rules can be adjusted with large flexibility to make the in-person
workshop available and additional supports may be provided to implement anti-covid
measurers for onsite activities. International workshops should be applied by Form
2B common with ICC-IMR.
(7) Other types: For other types of applications, visiting guest professor, research
fellowship and others, please apply to ICC-IMR. For details, visit ICC-IMR web site.

http://www.icc-imr.imr.tohoku.ac.jp/
4. Urgent Proposal Calls for Domestic Researchers
For domestic proposal, we strongly recommend applying at December round to ensure
the travel support. A limited numbers of urgent research proposal can be accepted forother calls in areas (1), (2), (3), (4), and (5).

5. Applicant qualifications(1) Full-time researchers (including postdoc researchers) belonging to national/public/private universities, technical colleges, incorporated administrative agencies,
national research and development corporations, special corporations, and national
public research institutions or equivalent institutes at overseas can apply as research
representatives.

(2) Graduate students can be included as collaborators. For domestic application,undergraduates (for technical colleges, major college students and academic advisors
shall be specified) can be included.
(3) Participants in the Challenging Research are limited to researchers 40 years old or
younger as of 1st January 2024. Graduate students or domestic undergraduates (majorstudents at technical collages) may participate.
(4) Regarding persons who have foreign nationality or persons belonging to foreignorganizations, security export control procedures are required prior to conducting
research. Please consult with your local contact for details.
(5) Although researchers of non-academic organizations can apply, the proposal shall beacademic and its achievement shall be published. For proprietary research, use thescheme of “Collaborative Research Program with the private sector”.

6. Items to Note
(1) Each research representative may only submit one international proposal in each year.
GIMRT is willing to support researchers from varieties of institutions and nations.
Hence it is our policy to avoid the multiple supports for a specific researcher.
(2) The allocation of research expenses will be adjusted based on the evaluation of theproposal, status of research implementation and achievement submission, the total
number of proposals and budget allocation, and will be confirmed through discussions
by the proposal committee.
(3) If you continue with the same research subject, one can submit a renewed proposal asa continuing one. The renewal is accepted up to two times. However, one has to show
good research results to have supports in successive years. Please understand thatthe supporting rate might be lower for successive proposals to encourage new users.
(4) When graduate students and undergraduate students (major students for technicalcolleges) use the laboratory in IMR, they must have Personal Accident Insurance forStudents Pursuing Education and Research or equivalent one. All other users also
must hold a proper insurance. IMR will not provide any insurance for users.
(5) The maximum travel support amount is summarized below. The allocation isdetermined by considering the review rating: Type S(Domestic) in RDG, CRDAM and QBCMR 250, 000 JPY
 Type S(Domestic) in HFLSM and IRCNS 300, 000 JPY
 Type S(0versea) 500,000JPY Type O 500,000JPY Type B(domestic or oversea) 100,000JPY Type W See 3-(6)7. Application procedure(1) Apply electronically via the GIMRT user system at the following URL. To submit a
proposal, one has to obtain User ID of the system. It will take one or two working
days to activate your user ID and so please register in advance.
https://gimrt.appli.imr.tohoku.ac.jp/login(2) Application deadlines 31 August 2024 in Japan Standard Time (JST). Considering
the time difference, the application will be cut at the beginning of September 2, JST.
Next call is expected in December 2024. Please note that there is no technicalsupport in the weekend.
(3) Applications should be either in Japanese or English. For the review process, alloverseas applications are requested to be written in English.

8. Research period

The research period for domestic application for August round is from October 2024 to
31st March 2025. For overseas applications, one year from the acceptance.

9. Contact address
GIMRT-office, Research Cooperation Division, General Affairs Section,
Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University
2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8577, Japan
Phone +81-22-215-2183
FAX +81-22-215-2184
Email gimrt-office@grp.tohoku.ac.jp
User officeE-mail uogimrt-imr@grp.tohoku.ac.jp
Twitter https://twitter.com/User_Office_IMR

10. Review process and selection
Each proposal is reviewed by three referees, and decision is made by the corresponding
proposal committee based on the review results. The review of the continuing proposals
includes the status of the previous proposal and the registration status of the research
results on the previously accepted proposal. For new proposal, please be sure to include
related research activities in the “Previous Research Results” column.
Applicants will be notified of the review results around the mid-October 2024.

11. Research Report
The research representative of the accepted proposal shall register the “Research Report”
and the output results such as publications via GIMRT user system. Every result that is
obtained in the collaborative research, even partly, shall be included in the results. The
deadline of research report of the December call is the mid. April of 2025. For other calls,
it will be informed after the finish of your research visit. We request users to publish
research results within 3 years. Papers may be published after the research period andthus please be sure to register at the GIMRT user system even after submitting theresearch report for each fiscal year.
If the collaborative research was not carried out due to some reasons, submit a Usage
Status Report. After the approval by the committee, register it in place of the report.

12. Submission of paper, Miscellaneous
Submit one copy of the reprint of the paper published as research achievements by anelectronic file to the Collaboration Research Office. Additionally, register it by the method
informed. Please be sure that IMR is in the Acknowledgments section by stating “by theCollaborative Research (subject number) at the Institute for Materials Research, TohokuUniversity.” Since the important objective of the GIMRT is to train young researchers,
please register master’s or doctoral thesis, if the thesis partially includes results ofcollaborative research as well as awards, promotion, project launch, patent or industrial
application through the use achievements. Documenting these achievements isimportant to maintain the collaboration budget.
An example acknowledgment is as follows.
This work was performed under the GIMRT Program of the Institute for Materials
Research, Tohoku University (Proposal No. ******).
The formal names of the facilities of IMR are given in the section 2. Area.

13. Accommodations
Visitors may use the accommodation facility of the Institute (three single rooms, two twinrooms: total capacity of seven). To apply, contact your local contact or GIMRT user office.
For details of the accommodation facility, please consult with your local contact.

14. Handling of intellectual property rights
Intellectual property rights generated as a result of research shall conform to theTohoku University Joint Research Regulations.

15. Other important notes(1) When graduate students and undergraduate students (major students for technicalcolleges) use the laboratory in IMR, they must have Personal Accident Insurance forStudents Pursuing Education and Research or equivalent one. All other users also
must hold a proper insurance. IMR will not provide any insurance for users.
(2) Please submit a Collaborative Research Agreement (Attachment 1) by the three weeks
before your visit. It is requested only for accepted proposal. Submit the Agreement
signed by the head of visitor’s home institution by postal mail or by e-mail. We accept
electronic signature, if this is the standard procedure at user’s home institution.
(3) As of April 2019, an income tax will be applied for a travel budget payment of overseas
users unless a proper tax exemption document is submitted. However, the tax will not
be requested if an air ticket and a hotel coupon are purchased by IMR and these areprovided to user instead of reimbursement. Hence, GIMRT strongly recommend for
us to purchase your tickets and coupons.
(4) Travel support is determined by our regulations and guide lines. A small amount ofcommuting fee is included in the daily support.

16.Code of Conduct
GIMRT set up a code of conduct. Please follow it in any activities of collaboration research.

http://gimrt.www.imr.tohoku.ac.jp/en/about/conductcode.html
17. Day Business Trip for career support
GIMRT is supporting the career formation of young researchers. If a researcher cannot
conduct an overnight business trip to support child-rearing etc., it is possible to makecontinuous one-day business trips instead of overnight business trips. Whether or not wecan accommodate additional travel support will be determined by considering multiple
factors such as the budget situation and the necessity, so please contact us as soon as
possible if you wish to do so.

Attachment 1

Collaborative Research Agreement

National University Corporation Tohoku University
To Director of Institute for Materials Research
Proposal Number:
Proposal Title:
Name

Job Title

Home Organization

We acknowledge that the above persons will become collaborators.
Day Month Year
Director of home institution
Affiliation/Title/NamePersonal Seal or Signature

I acknowledge that the undergraduate (major student for technical colleges) among theaforementioned persons will become collaborators.
Supervisor:

Personal Seal or Signature

Notes
1. “Director of Research Institution” is the head of the home institution: such as president,
dean, director of the department, head of center, or person in the equivalent position who
has the responsibility for this agreement.
2. If an undergraduate (major student of a technology college) is included as a collaborator, thesupervisor must acknowledge the student.
3. User and visitors are required to comply with the conditions written in the call document
and regulations of Tohoku University and the GIMRT Code of Conduct.
4. User and visitors are required to comply with the safety control measures at IMR.