National Facilities
16
Jan
2024
Central Facility: Centre for Cloud in-situ Measurements (CIS)
Unit: Calibration Centre for Cloud Particle Properties (CCPar)
Background
ACTRIS (Aerosol, Cloud and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure) is a European Research Infrastructure providing data and services on short-lived components of the atmosphere. ACTRIS was adopted to the ESFRI roadmap in 2016 and became its own legal entity ACTRIS ERIC in 2023. ACTRIS is still partially in implementation and is expected to be fully operational in 2026.
ACTRIS includes numerous National Facilities measurement sites, atmospheric simulation chambers and mobile platforms, and eight Central Facilities, namely the Head Office, Data Centre and six Topical Centres. The Topical Centres take care of instrument calibration, standard operating procedures, and training, and contribute to technology development in their respective fields. Each Topical Centre is operated by a multi-national consortium of research-performing organizations where each organization typically hosts one unit of the Topical Centre. The Topical Centres are linked to ACTRIS ERIC via a service contract.
For more information on ACTRIS and its implementation please see ACTRIS Business Plan (link).
The call
ACTRIS is looking for a new host institution/host institutions for the unit CCPar providing services for in-situ measurements of cloud particle properties. The Unit CCPar is part of a multinational consortium of the Centre for Cloud in-situ Measurements.
The main tasks of this unit are to provide instrument calibration and standard operating procedures for instruments measuring the following in-situ cloud particle parameters:
· Liquid droplet number concentration
· Liquid droplet number size distribution
· Ice particle number concentration
· Ice particle number size distribution
As the budget for the Central Facility has been approved including the earlier foreseen host of CCPar, the new hosts of CCPar are expected to provide the services at roughly the same cost. The maximum contribution from ACTRIS ERIC is fixed to the approved budget, but the host contributions for both implementation and operation may exceed the approved budget if needed.
Eligibility
The eligibility criteria for hosting ACTRIS Central Facilities are:
1. Each Central Facility is organized as a consortium. In this case, the selected host institution(s) is expected to join the CIS consortium after the selection.
2. Each Unit of the Central Facility should be operated by a public or private, European, non-profit research-performing organization.
3. Each host institution of the ACTRIS Central Facility has to be located in a country which is a member or permanent observer of ACTRIS ERIC.
Application, process, and schedule
The call for applications is now open and will close on Friday 29.2.2024 (at midnight Central European time). The leader of the proposed unit is expected to fill in the linked application template (link) and send the completed application to Niku Kivekäs at ACTRIS Head Office (niku.kivekas@actris.eu) by the deadline. The leader will receive a confirmation e-mail that the application was received in time.
The applications will be evaluated by a team of experts, who will remain anonymous to the applicants. The application will be evaluated for three main areas: 1) Scientific excellence and experience in specific service provision, 2) Feasibility, including capacity and maturity of operational support and service provision, implementation plan, resources, and operational management, and 3) demonstrated institutional support. The evaluation team will provide a joint evaluation report by 5.4. If there are several competing applications, each application will be evaluated by the same team of experts.
The evaluation report will be provided to the applicants for their answers to the evaluation. The deadline for answers is Friday 26.4.2024 (at midnight Central European time).
Based on the application, evaluation report and answer to the evaluation comments the ACTRIS Head Office will propose the new host(s) to the ACTRIS ERIC General Assembly at the end of May 2024.
Important dates
Call opens 15.1.2024
Call closes 29.2.2024
Evaluation results available 5.4.2024
Response to evaluator comments due 26.4.2024
ACTRIS ERIC General Assembly decision 29.5.2024
Reference documents
CIS implementation plan: Link