Proposers might find it useful to understand the Guidelines below which are followed by Moderators and Reviewers when they assess a proposal submitted to Instruct.

Guidelines for Moderators:

Moderators are bound to respect the confidentiality of information provided in an Instruct proposal. Moderators must not disclose or otherwise exploit this confidential information for any purpose.

Moderators should assess proposals according to the following initial criteria:

• Eligibility: Proposals must originate from an Instruct member country or organisation.
• Field of research and request for platform access: The research should fall within the broad field of structural cell biology and be well matched to the infrastructure provided through Instruct.

Moderators should choose a total of three reviewers for each proposal; one internal reviewer and two external reviewers. Reviewers should be appointed and confirmed as promptly as possible and at most within 4 days. The aim is to provide a decision to the proposer within 2 weeks of submission.

When the reviews have been returned, the Moderator should then action one of three outcomes:

Approval; Revision; Rejection.

The Moderator may comment on the proposal outcome including advice on next steps for the proposer. The proposer will receive all three reviewers' comments, their scores and the Moderator's comments.

Appeals: If the proposer appeals the review decision, the Moderator, with the help of the Instruct Secretary, will manage the revision process which may require referral to the Access Committee. The Moderator will have discretion to revise the decision where the score is 3-5, but should refer the appeal to the Access Committee where the original score is 0-2. The Moderator may refer back to the reviewers at any time for help in this process. The Moderator (with the help of the Secretary) will keep the proposer informed of the process and outcome of the appeal.

The Moderator may invite the proposer to resubmit a revised proposal, and may provide guidance on how to improve the proposal. The Instruct office is willing to reconsider revised proposals at any time.

 

 

 

Guidelines for Reviewers:

Please take into consideration that not all Instruct proposals can be accepted due to high demand. Please evaluate all proposals in a competitive manner. 

All proposals will be evaluated by three reviewers (one internal to Instruct and two external) and must be accepted by the platform(s) nominated in the proposal. A decision by the reviewers on the acceptance of a proposal is without prejudice to the right of a platform to decline access on reasonable grounds (including conflict of interest, capacity limitations, financial limitations) and in accordance with the terms of the relevant Centre Agreement. All platforms have a local right of veto for access.

Panel Review: Following review, proposals that meet the required threshold will pass to panel review for final selection.

Reviewers should score proposals according to the following criteria: Reviews should be returned within 1 week.

1. Impact of the research (score 3 = high impact; 2 = moderate impact; 1 = low impact; 0 = not worthy of Instruct support; where impact score = 1, add +1 if request is for single technology platform access: threshold=2/3)

In many cases, the work proposed will be part of an existing experimental project which has been scientifically peer-reviewed by an external national or international funding body. It is not the intention of Instruct to duplicate this review process. However, an evaluation of the impact of the proposed work will help to prioritise proposals in cases where platform capacity or funding might be limited.

2. Field and scope of research (score 1= suitable field of study; 0 = not suitable for Instruct: threshold = 1/1)

The subject category of the proposal should fall within structural cell biology. This may include some functional work that may or may not be undertaken at an Instruct Centre. The proposals may be of two types:

• Single access proposal - requests access for a single experiment to a single platform facility which is unavailable in the proposer’s national facilities.
• Integrated access proposal – proposes a project involving an integrated experimental approach with more than 2 technology platforms requested for access. These proposals may span several months and include some flexibility in planning the order and scale of platform access.

The work proposed should have elements that are ambitious and innovative or tackle difficult problems with a fresh approach. Routine service access is not normally acceptable.

3. Preliminary data and Plan B (score 3 = good preliminary data available and plan B in place; score 2 = some further data needed, plan B in place; score 1 = some further data needed and no plan B; score 0 = data not provided or not sufficient: threshold = 2/3 [either score 2 or 1+1 for single access])

Proposals should contain sufficient preliminary data to show that the experimental work is feasible: e.g. that material is of sufficient quality and quantity for requested technologies; that there is data supporting the scientific approach; that there are no safety or ethical issues preventing access.

Where a multi-platform project is proposed, some flexibility in the approach to take account of poor outcome should be included. The Reviewer should make a judgement about whether the nominated platform location(s) is optimal for the objectives and may offer advice on other choices.

4. Strengths and weaknesses (score 1 = balance on strengths; score 0 = balance on weaknesses: threshold = 1/1)

The strengths and weaknesses of the proposal should be evaluated, including a judgement on whether the platforms requested are optimal for achieving the best experimental outcome. Suggestions on other platforms or approaches may be made.

Maximum score = 8

Threshold score for shortlist to panel review = 6

Revision required = scores 3-5

Rejected = scores 0-2

Along with the scores, please provide comments, justifying the result to help inform the final panel.

The Moderator will make both the scores and the reviewers' comments available to the proposer when feedback on the decision is given.

Appeals: If the proposer wishes to appeal the decision from the Moderator, he/she must contact the Moderator directly in the first instance and explain the reasons for appeal. The Moderator will decide whether the decision can be revised without referral back to the reviewers or whether it requires referral to reviewers and/or the Access Committee. The Moderator (who may delegate this to the Secretary) will keep the proposer informed of the process and outcome of the appeal.

 

Help: Moderators and Reviewers may contact support@instruct-eric.org for help with the online review process. Specifically, Moderator or Reviewer may wish to take advice from the requested platform(s) about technical feasibility of the work proposed. This can be done directly (bearing in mind issues of confidentiality of the proposed work) or through the Secretary.