ILL users from member countries may apply for long-term beamtime, by submitting a Long Term Proposal (LTP).  Both ILL Scientific Council and the ILL management believe that LTP could be beneficial to the ILL community as a whole. The LTP scheme was introduced for the first time at the proposal deadline on 16 September 2008 and will be available yearly on each Autumn deadline.

LTP are granted to ILL users for projects that extend over several cycles if it can be demonstrated that they bring extra resources or capabilities that are of benefit to users in general. About 10% of the total available beamtime can be allocated to LTP.

Scientific excellence is the primary criterion for the acceptance of such a Long-Term Proposal (LTP). Further criteria are:

(a) a commitment from the proposing User group concerning the contribution of financial, technical and/or human resources during the implementation of the LTP
(b) an identifiable benefit to the ILL User community (such as a new technique, a new instrument or new possibilities for an existing instrument) expected to result from the successful accomplishment of the goals for the LTP.

Each LTP must be identified with a spokesperson, who should be affiliated to a scientific institution of an ILL member country. The implementation of a LTP requires yearly reports and a final report. LTPs can be submitted once a year. Submitted proposals are judged by our Review Committee during the  proposal review rounds.  Beamtime for accepted LTPs becomes available during the following scheduling period.

Applications for beamtime should be submitted electronically via our Electronic Proposal Submission system (EPS), available on the ILL Visitors Club website. Please follow the guidelines when submitting your LTP. For any questions please do not hesitate to contact us. You will get full support from the Visitors' Club webmaster.