English

ACCESS TO THE “PLATAFORMA SOLAR DE ALMERÍA”

DEFINITION OF THE CRITERIA AND SCORES FOR EACH CRITERIA

There is one criterion to be evaluated by the Facility Manager of the selected installation, which includes three different aspects:

  • the feasibility of the project to be successfully conducted with the ICTS-PSA service providing installation;
  • the availability of required technologies and expertise at the ICTS-PSA; and
  • the availability of possible required supporting laboratory for the project.

Facility Managers should take into account technical problems, risks and related cost.

There are three criteria to be evaluated by the Evaluation Committee. They are each scored out of 5, three being the threshold for each of the criteria:

  • The scientific excellence (originality and innovation) /5
  • The overall technical quality of the project /5
  • The qualifications and complementarity of the Research Team /5

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Upon completion of the Access, the User must undertake to complete the Access Summary Report including the outcomes of the research stay, and submit it to the Facility Manager.

The applicant must commit him/herself to publish a scientific publication of the work performed and the results obtained, provided that it does not compromise any of the parties, and access to the facility has been funded entirely by a national or international project, or it has been funded in part by the PSA.

RULES OF PROCEDURE FOR THE OPEN ACCESS COMMITTEE

1. PURPOSE
2. NATURE
3. COMPOSITION OF THE OPEN ACCESS COMMITTEE
3.1. SELECTION AND APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS
3.2. DURATION
3.3. CONFIDENTIALITY COMMITMENT
4. OPERATING PROCEDURES
5. RESPONSIBILITIES
5.1. OF THE REVIEWERS
5.2. OF THE ICTS COORDINATOR
6. EXAMINATION AND EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS BY THE ACCESS COMMITTEE
6.1. EVALUATION CRITERIA
7. COMMUNICATION OF ACCESS
8. DOCUMENTATION ARCHIVING

 

1. PURPOSE

To establish the rules governing the operation of the Open Access Committee (OAC) of the ICTS Plataforma Solar de Almería.

2. NATURE

The OAC is an independent advisory body responsible for evaluating applications submitted under the Competitive Open Access (COA) calls published by PSA.

3. COMPOSITION OF THE OPEN ACCESS COMMITTEE

3.1. SELECTION AND APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS

The Director of PSA shall invite individuals from the scientific community, of recognized prestige in the field of solar energy, the water–energy nexus, or energy efficiency, to join the OAC. The Director of PSA shall also be responsible for the appointment of the members of the OAC.

Members of the OAC must meet the following requirements:

  • To be, or to have been, a principal investigator in a national or international project funded through competitive calls.
  • To have at least ten (10) years of research or teaching experience in the field of solar energy, the water–energy nexus, or energy efficiency.

The PSA OAC shall be composed of a minimum of four (4) members who must be external to PSA.

3.2. DURATION

Each member may serve on the OAC for a maximum period of four (4) years from the date of their appointment by the Director of PSA.

3.3. CONFIDENTIALITY COMMITMENT

Members of the OAC expressly undertake, both during their membership and after its termination, not to disclose, transmit, or reveal to third parties any PSA information to which they may have access as a result of the performance of their duties, nor to use such information for their own benefit or that of third parties.

The prohibition established in the preceding paragraph extends to the reproduction, in any medium, of PSA information to which they may have access concerning users, procedures, or any other type of internal information.

All notes, reports, and other documents (including those stored on electronic devices) prepared in the performance of their duties as members of the OAC shall be the property of PSA and shall be held in custody by the ICTS.

In the event of a breach of the above commitments by any member of the OAC, PSA reserves the right to seek compensation for any damages that may arise as a result of the violation of the duty of confidentiality.
3.4. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Members of the OAC are required to inform the ICTS Coordinator of any situation that may cause a conflict of interest in the course of their duties within the Committee. In the event of a declared conflict of interest, the PSA Coordinator shall immediately remove and/or replace the evaluator concerned from the assigned Working Committee.

4. OPERATING PROCEDURES

Depending on the nature and number of applications received in each open access call, the required members of the OAC shall be selected to carry out the evaluations.

Each application shall be assigned to at least three members of the OAC, taking into account the reviewer’s field of expertise and the nature of the application. Efforts shall be made to ensure an equitable distribution of the evaluation workload among OAC members and across the different COA calls.

5. RESPONSIBILITIES

5.1. OF THE REVIEWERS

  • To assess and report on the evaluation results of the submitted access applications, in accordance with the general evaluation criteria and any specific criteria established, where applicable, in each call.
  • To contribute, through their expertise and knowledge-based assessments, to the OAC’s proposal regarding the granting and prioritisation of Competitive Open Access applications in each call.

    5.2. OF THE ICTS COORDINATOR

  • To coordinate and schedule the work of the OAC reviewers.
  • To assign each reviewer the applications received under the COA call.
  • To publish the final decision on the applications accepted on the ICTS website.

6. EXAMINATION AND EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS BY THE ACCESS COMMITTEE

Each reviewer shall examine the applications assigned to them within the established deadline, using the corresponding evaluation form.

Any reviewer may request additional information regarding an application by communicating with the ICTS Coordinator, who shall be responsible for forwarding the request to the applicant.

6.1. EVALUATION CRITERIA

The evaluation of applications received under each COA call shall be carried out in accordance with the following criteria:

I. Scientific and technical relevance of the proposal and its underlying project:

  • Quality and originality of the research project and research plan.
  • Adequacy of the methodology, design, and work plan with respect to the objectives of the proposal.
  • Expected scientific and technical contributions arising from the proposal.

II. Relevance/impact of the proposal:

  • Contribution of the research to the advancement of knowledge.
  • Potential social, economic, and/or industrial impact of the research.
  • Potential for exploitation, transfer, and/or dissemination of results.

Applications that are part of R&D&I projects funded under a competitive call from a national or international funding agency shall be deemed to meet the required quality threshold and shall therefore be automatically approved, with access to the ICTS being subject to their position in the prioritised ranking list.

Otherwise, if no information is provided regarding the existence of a competitively funded parent project, applications shall be approved or rejected based on the relevance and impact criteria applied in the evaluation process. If approved, access shall also be subject to their position in the prioritised ranking list.

In all cases, in order to obtain the corresponding score that will allow the preparation of the prioritised list of approved applications with access, all sections of the access application form must be properly completed.

7. COMMUNICATION OF ACCESS

The ICTS Coordinator is responsible for communicating the outcome of the proposals to the applicants.

8. DOCUMENTATION ARCHIVING

All generated documentation shall be archived at PSA for a minimum period of six (6) years.