Call for Proposals

GEOLAB provides a comprehensive suite of 11 complementary installations equipping the users from academia and industry with renowned tools for excellent research for the energy, water, urban and transport infrastructure sector.

The installations were specifically selected to ensure a wide range of capabilities to address problems across experiment scales, disciplinary boundaries and Technology Readiness Levels.

The research infrastructure installations are used to study the following:

• Ground stability related issues, e.g. consolidation, seepage, liquefaction, (coastal) erosion and slope stability.
• Water-soil-structure interaction, e.g. for roads, railways, tunnels, bridges, dams, foundations, buildings and buried cables & pipelines.
• Interaction of infrastructure systems with the environment, e.g. impact of climate change, extreme weather events, geo-hazards, static & dynamic loading and aging.

The Third Call for Proposals is an invitation to all eligible research groups (see the summary of rules and conditions for transnational access) to submit a proposal for an experiment to be hosted in one of the abovementioned facilities, free of charge. The theme of the present call is ‘Experiments to validate advances in numerical modelling and data science leading to a better engineering design’.

• The deadline for proposals is on October 14th, 2023, 23:59 CET. Proposals received after this time cannot be considered.
• Proposals are reviewed by a User Selection Panel, the outcome of which is expected to be known on January 15th, 2024.

To guide prospective users in preparing their proposal, further details on the capabilities of physical modelling at the experimental facilities can be found here. We ask prospective Users of the facilities to make clear in their proposal how their research will contribute to our knowledge and understanding of enhancing the resilience of the Critical Infrastructure in Europe.

The programme provides User Groups access free of charge to the facilities for their research project and covers travel and subsistence costs (within prescribed limits) as well. Access is made available for projects, in general not exceeding 1 month.

State-of-the-art measuring instruments, data-acquisition and processing systems will be available, as well as modern support facilities, such as library, computers, and internet access. Furthermore, visiting researchers are offered a scientific and intellectual environment, with assistance and guidance from experts at the host institute.

According to the GEOLAB Access Policy:

In order to encourage higher participation from non-academic circles, a proposal will be awarded additional points, if both of the following criteria are fulfilled:

1. In the text of the proposal there is clear and tangible proof that the problem at hand addresses existing and realistic needs from the industry/engineering practice. A support letter from an industrial partner (even though not mandatory) would greatly benefit the applicants to that end.
2. Members affiliated with CI network managers and/or private sector are included in the applying User Group.

If you wish to find out more about the first call for proposals for Transnational Access, you can watch the webinar here.

* Please note that if you are planning to apply for the Third Call for Proposals the applications for the CEDEX Track Box facility is closed*