We have applied some changes to ARIA and are monitoring stability, but you can continue to work as normal. We appreciate your understanding.
As satellite to the Instruct Biennial Structural Biology Conference 2026 (IBSBC), Instruct-ERIC will be hosting a Women in Science Workshop, on 27 May. The workshop is open to researchers and policy makers from across structural biology and beyond.
Instruct is launching the 2026 access call for ECRs working in the field of integrated structural biology. The intent of this support is to provide extended access visits and travel grants and promote independence of researchers to become competitive for external funding for independent projects
Academic and commercial scientists from Instruct Member Countries and organisations can apply for funded access to structural biology technologies. Researchers worldwide can apply for self-funded access - apply to find out more.
Through this call, Instruct allocates funds to support small pilot research and development projects in any area of structural biology up to a maximum of €15,000 per project. This call is specifically aimed at early career researchers as defined in the EU ERC programme.
Instruct-ERIC provides access to state-of-the-art infrastructure and technology to support research in structural biology. Our aim is to encourage and facilitate the integrative use of technologies and methodologies that are available at Instruct Centres.
Instruct offers researchers with young children the opportunity to be part of the Instruct Biennial Structural Biology conference IBSBC2026 by bringing their child to Brussels together with a child minder.
Instruct-ERIC offers PhD Students the opportunity to be part of the Biennial Structural Biology Conference with Student Fellowships, covering economy travel costs and accommodation for 2 nights.
Instruct-ERIC Biennial Conference Registrants are invited to submit an abstract for the poster session. A small number of abstracts will be selected to be presented orally during the conference.
Instruct-ERIC Centre Evaluation submission form
Academic and commercial scientists from Instruct Member Countries and organisations can apply for funded access.
Before you start: Consider this list of European projects that offer funding. You may discover another project that suits your specific needs.
Instruct funding:
Instruct funding Contribution has two components: 1) Access and 2) Travel, Accommodation (T&A) and Shipping.
Access funding: The Instruct funded access scheme supports free access to one (or several) Instruct facilities for a defined number of days depending on the service requested. Find in the table below how many days of free access to our Instruct facility you can benefit from through this access scheme.
A travel and accommodation contribution of up to € 500 is reserved for all Instruct-funded visits regardless of the location of the Centre and the home country of the user. The figure can be used towards shipping expenses for remote access. The travel and accommodation cap is raised to € 550 for physical visits if you do not travel by air. For proposals selected before 2026, the travel and accommodation contribution is up to €400 per visit, raised to €450 for physical visits if you do not travel by air.
| Maximum access free of charge per Technology | |
| Technology | Maximum days of free access per Visit |
| Crystallisation | 4 |
| Electron Microscopy | 2 |
| EM Analysis | 10 |
| ESPRIT | 8.4 |
| Imaging | 3 |
| Magnetic Resonance Techniques | 5.4 |
| Mass Spectrometry | 3 |
| Molecular Biophysics | 3 |
| Nanobody Discovery | 8.4 |
| Protein Production (includes sample preparation for EM/NMR) | 10 |
| X-ray Techniques | 2.9 |
If you wish to access an Instruct facility for a longer period than what is covered free of charge by the Instruct funded access scheme, you will be expected to cover the costs to the facility. We advise you to contact the facility ahead of your application if you wish to access their service for an extended amount of time. For more information on what Instruct-ERIC pays for, consult Funding for Access.
Timeframe: Please allow up to three months for the review process.
The initial peer review process plus technical evaluation takes roughly 4-6 weeks.
However, In case of high number of application received, a selection panel will meet to make a final decision on proposals to be selected for funding. Instruct selection panel will meet every 2 months. Proposals submitted up until 30 days prior the panel review date will be considered for this round of review. Proposals submitted after that date might have to be considered for the next round of panel review if the scientific evaluation is still pending.
The deadline for submission for the upcoming selection panel is 26 March 2026.
Please note: We are currently experiencing a significant increase in proposal submissions for funded access. All proposals passing scientific evaluation might not be selected for Instruct funded access by the selection panel.
When to apply: Applications for access can be submitted at any time. Periodically, special calls for access will be published with a defined deadline. These special calls carry specific criteria, so please read the calls carefully.
Users should apply only when they are ready to make use of the Instruct facility (samples ready). Users are expected to finalise their visit within 6 months (max 1 year) after proposal approval. Applicants should demonstrate in their application that they can start with the access visit immediately (show preliminary data...)
Proposal application steps: There are six steps to the online application process, and you are guided through them step by step.
Integrative structural biology: Instruct advocates integrative structural biology, where multiple techniques give particular breadth to research, although we are happy to accept proposals for both single or multiple technologies.
Who qualifies: Academic and commercial scientists from Instruct Member Countries and organisations can apply for funded access. Scientists are not eligible for funded access to an Instruct facility located in their own local organisation (eg: in their own University or Research Centre) unless they can justify the use of a local facility. More information on who can apply.
Your ARIA profile: Remember to update your profile, since this acts as your CV for all online applications. You can edit your profile at the end of your dashboard page.
More information: See the proposal submission help guide, access policy or contact us.
Moderator and Reviewer Guidelines: Find out more about the evaluation criteria and process here.
Criteria for selection: The main criteria for selection are scientific excellence, impact and feasibility of the research project. If needed, softer selection criteria might be taken into consideration by the selection panel such as:
-gender balance,
-geographical distribution of users,
-new users vs frequent users (consider recent proposals awarded through Instruct),
-availability of resources in the home lab.
Please be aware that follow-up proposals might not be prioritised by the selection panel.
