Call for applications is now closed. Next call tentative in Winter 2024, starting around November/December.

The FLEX-EPOS main Call for Applications is open twice a year. The FLEX-EPOS Steering Group will have a pre-scheduled meeting to evaluate the applications, tentatively in January and in August. The call for applications will open two (2) months before the meeting, and close one (1) week before it.  In the meanwhile, fast track application process can be utilized when suitable. 

Who can apply

The FLEX-EPOS consortium parties are the users of the FLEX-EPOS instruments. The main applicant is always a FLEX-EPOS consortium party and only projects involving at least one of the consortium parties are considered. Each partner's contact person(s) and keywords for their collaboration interests can be found here.

Applications with industry involvement and commercial usage, i.e., business projects, are possible. However, the Academy of Finland has set the limit on the economic usage of the instruments to a maximum of 20% annually.

The FLEX-EPOS Steering Group discusses and evaluates the project applications. The projects are prioritized in the following order:

1. non-business research projects,
2. business/economic projects.

If necessary to guarantee a fair handling of the requests to use the FLEX-EPOS instruments, the Steering Group may use outside experts to help prioritize the projects.

When and how to apply

Main Call for applications is twice a year

Applications to the main calls are submitted via the following web form: https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/110180/lomake.html  (twice a year, Summer 2024 call 17 June 2024 to 7 August 2024 18:00 EEST). 

• Filled preliminary instrument order form is to be attached to the application. 
• Max 2 pages summary of the project including ie.g. deployment plan (details that explain the time span of the reservation) and possible preparatory work (reconnaissance work) to be attached to the application. 

The FLEX-EPOS Steering Group will have a pre-scheduled meeting to go through the applications tentatively in January and in August. The exact dates of these meetings and the opening of the calls for the applications will be announced in this website and via flex-epos-grp@helsinki.fi email list (which anyone can subscribe to). The call will be open for two months. The deadline for receiving applications is one week prior to the Steering Group meeting.

Applicants are asked to familiarize themselves with the technical specifications of the broadband and large-N instruments, the reservation calendar, and the Seismic Instrument Pool Principles of Operation before applying!

Fast-track applications

In between the main calls, short-term instrument provision might be possible (decision is made in an email meeting of the FLEX-EPOS Steering Group).

These fast-track applications are submitted via the following web form: https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/112262/lomake.html

In the case of the fast-track applications, the Steering Group will make a decision as quickly as possible, at the latest within two (2) weeks from receiving the application.

Agreements

After a positive decision of the Steering Group, the user(s) and the owners of the instruments conclude a User’s Agreement to agree on the liabilities, rights, risk allocation, user fees and other responsibilities resulting from the usage of the instruments:

• Template for the User's Agreement (doc)