Rapid access proposals are available on the macromolecular crystallography beamlines only.

Rapid Access gives users a route for urgent access to beamtime in certain circumstances.

Approximately three shifts of RA time per month will be reserved on each MX beamline on days to be announced in advance. The Call for Proposals will open approximately one month before the RA day and close approximately two weeks before the RA day. RA proposals will be assessed by the Program Advisory Committee on the basis of merit.

A demonstrated need for urgency is the overriding criterion for the allocation of beamtime. Examples of urgency include, but are not limited to:

• High profile work in danger of losing out to international competition.
• Risk of losing precedence in intellectual property (e.g. a patent position).
• Critical time-limited work for inclusion in a graduate student's thesis.
• A new project for a user with no existing Program allocations who may have to wait an unreasonable amount of time for access to Project or Program beamtime.

A successful application must also demonstrate feasibility. The status of the crystals and detail of the experiment to be carried out must be clearly stated.

If a proposal for RA time is unsuccessful due to RA time being allocated to other requests then that proposal will be removed from the system and will need to be resubmitted for the next RA round if RA time is still required by the proposer.

The shifts which will be made available for RA are as follows: