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Getting Accounts or Otherwise Applying for Resource on the NCI National Facility and the NCI Specialised Facilities

Contents

Preliminary Information

Who may have an account The NCI National Facility (NCI NF) is available for use by researchers and postgraduate students (through their supervisors) at Australian higher education institutions and public sector research organisations (Commonwealth, State and Territory) may apply to the NCMAS for access to computational and data resources. All access is subject to conditions of use and other policies, including a requirement to acknowledge NCI in publications.
Use of the NCI NF systems for commercial purposes or by commercial organisations is possible by negotiation (email for details).
When to Apply The main call for applications to the National Computational Merit Allocation Scheme is made annually in October for allocations to start the following January. Allocations are made for up to 12 months at a time. There may also be a mid-term call in April for NEW projects for the July to December period. This is to bring such new applicants in line with the main call.

Applications may be submitted at any time when there are reasons for not being able to submit at the time of the calls. Such applications may ask for resources for a period of less than a year to bring the project into line with the normal January allocation round.

Details and forms to apply for allocations can be found on the http://ncmas.nci.org.au/ web site.

How to Apply Read on to see which scheme you should apply under and the relevant policies, then load up the application form by clicking on the link in the left hand column if provided, or selecting the link for the form from within the explanatory text. Forms are to be filled in and submitted online.
Cost & ARC Resource Valuation The NCI NF operates on a resource share model whereby the resources of the NCI NF systems have been allocated to NCI (for the NCMAS) and other Partners in accordance with the contributions they have provided to the NCI NF.

As a result of this model, researchers granted resources under the NCMAS or by the Partners are not charged by NCI for their use of the systems at the NCI NF.

The NCI Steering Committee has determined that for the purposes of indicating the in-kind value of grants to bodies such as the ARC, a figure of $0.10 per processor hour on compute systems should be used. Projects with commercial support may be expected to make a financial contribution.
Network Access Charges Users are expected to access the National Facility via AARNet ("on-net"). Data transfers to or from the facility "on-net" do not incur extra charges. Data transfers to the facility which come in "off-net" incur a charge of about $5.50 per 10**9 bytes. The NCI National Facility reserves the right to charge back excess off-net data traffic as a condition of access to the facilities. The AARNet site has a page which can be used to query the off vs on net status of an IP address.

Start-up accounts Small start-up grants are available to help researchers evaluate the suitability of the National Facility to their research and to assist in framing applications for substantial grants. Postgraduate students can be connected users on projects with their supervisors as the lead chief investigator.
National Computational Merit Allocation Scheme (NCMAS) for Computational Projects Full details of the NCMAS are available via the link on the left.

Partner Time Allocation for Computational Projects Partners have a formal share available to them to allocate at their own discretion separate to the National Computational Merit Allocation Scheme.

If your organisation is a member of one of the Partners, you are eligible to apply for a Partner share grant. These grants are generally smaller than NCMAS grants.

About the Project Application Forms Warning: Google Chrome browser does not play nicely with the ARC/NHMRC/Other funding sections on the forms. Mozilla Firefox is the recommended browser to use.
You can save and reload the project application forms as many times as you wish. When the application is complete use the "Submit" button to finally submit it for evaluation. The major sections of the form are as below. The information sought in each section is outlined in the table of contents when you load the form. The application form must be completed and submitted on-line.

  1. Administrative Summary
  2. Publications and Research Funding
  3. Research Proposal
  4. Resource Requirements and Justification of Needs
Defining the Researchers

Many researchers will have applied for resources at the NCI NF previously, and will therefore have exisiting identities in the NCI NF researchers database. Email if you had an identity and have since forgotten it.

New Projects

For new project applications it is necessary to first complete the Administrative Summary section, then save the form for a later reload before the complete form will load. This allocates the project a code, and enables the details of any already known people to be preloaded.

Project Renewal Applications

When you try to access a form for project renewal you will be required to authenticate yourself first. The reason for this is that if there is data available from a previous application for the project, the application form loaded will contain pre-filled in values for some parts of the form. It is very important that you:

  1. Read and correct the pre-filled items. Out of date information will detract from your application.
  2. Correct the role of each researcher on the project.
  3. Save the form then RELOAD it after correcting researcher roles.

Time Allocation/Project Application Forms

NEW project application FORM Use the form link on the left for a Start-up or NEW project under Merit Allocation, or Partner schemes. Note that a start-up project can be converted to a project with a more significant allocation under Merit, or Partner allocation via this form too.
RENEWAL project application FORM Use the form link on the left to RENEW a project under Merit Allocation, or Partner schemes.

Other Forms

Third Party Software Request If there is third-party software not currently installed on the NCI National Facility that is essential to your project or which you believe would be useful, please complete the form.
Dataset Request Use the form link on the left to request a dataset to be hosted within the National Facility data cloud to assist with your work at NCI.
Register as a NEW person Use this form if you have never been a registered researcher with us before. You need to register to obtain an identity both to add to new project applications, and to apply for connection to existing projects. (for the latter, use the user connection form once your have been issued with an identity via this form.) Email if you had an identity and have since forgotten it.
Connection to an existing project Use this form if you want to connect to an existing project. You must already have registered your information via the new user registration form or have an existing identity at the NCI National Facility.
Update Contacts and Researcher Track Record Details Use this form if you have a registered id number only, (i.e. no login credentials at NCI NF) and you need to update your contacts data and/or your research track record ready for loading on time application forms for projects on which you are a chief investigator.
Update Contacts and Researcher Track Record Details
(authenticated)		 Use this form if you have login credentials at NCI NF and you need to update your contacts data and/or your research track record ready for loading on time application forms for projects on which you are a chief investigator.
NCI Annual Report Submission The call for annual reports on 2011 work will be made shortly. It is particularly important that the report be provided prior to the applications for National Merit Scheme time in 2013 as the report will be linked to from the application for the Merit Committee to view it.
Email problems, suggestions, questions to