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ACCESS TO THE “PLATAFORMA SOLAR DE ALMERÍA”

EVALUATION PROCEDURE AND SELECTION CRITERIA IN AAC MODALITY

Twice a year, PSA will open access calls to receive proposals from research groups aimed at scientific and technological development research (R&D projects) that wish to access the scientific facilities.

Each proposal must be submitted through an open call and will be evaluated and communicated at a later date after the call has closed.

EVALUATION PHASES OF THE PROCEDURE

In order to select the proposals that will be granted access to the use of PSA facilities, proposals submitted in due time and form will be evaluated according to the following phases:

PHASE 1. SCIENTIFIC-TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY STUDY

Applications will be forwarded to the Facility Managers (RdI) that best match each Access Proposal, who will assess their scientific-technical feasibility and the operational availability of each facility.

PHASE 2. SCIENTIFIC-TECHNICAL QUALITY EVALUATION

Proposals that have passed Phase 2 will be transferred to the Open Access Committee (CAA), made up of 5 independent experts, which will be responsible for evaluating the scientific-technical quality of the proposals in accordance with the established selection criteria. The CAA may request additional information from the Access Coordinator.

There are three criteria for evaluation by the CAA, with a maximum score of 5 points, with 3 being the threshold for each criterion:

  • Scientific excellence (originality and innovation) /5
  • Overall technical quality of the project /5
  • Competences and complementarity of the research team /5

This will generate a score out of 15, with only those exceeding a score of 9 being accepted.

If access to the facilities is limited for any reason, priority will be given to:

  • 1. Users with the highest score
  • 2. Users who have not previously used the requested facility, and
  • 3. Users working in countries where no equivalent research infrastructure exists

IMPORTANT: For proposals coming from any competitive open public call at regional, national, European or international level, in which scientific excellence and technical quality have been evaluated, the CA may adopt those evaluations and directly grant a PASS rating to the proposal.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERION

The selected applicant must commit to sending the RdI a report with the work carried out and the results obtained at the end of the stay period.

The applicant must commit to publishing a scientific paper on the work carried out and the results obtained, provided that it does not compromise any of the parties, and that access to the facility has been fully funded by a project from any competitive open public call, or has been partially funded by PSA. PSA must be acknowledged in the publication for facilitating access to its facilities.

PHASE 3. COMMUNICATION OF RESULTS AND APPEALS MANAGEMENT

Once the CAA has completed its evaluation, the result will be communicated to the Access Coordinator.

Based on the report prepared by the CAA, the Access Coordinator will notify each applicant of the final decision, either acceptance or rejection, including in the latter case the reasons for rejection. Applicants will have 15 days to submit any appeals they deem appropriate. The Access Coordinator, together with the corresponding RdIs, will decide whether to reopen the evaluation process if the appeals are relevant, having 15 days to send a final response.

The final resolution of the accepted proposals will be published on the PSA access website.