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Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre

Use our facilities

Three white mannequin heads with colourful blue and red EEG caps with places for electrodes to be fitted
EEG caps

Our facilities are available to use for research, clinical or commercial purposes.

All projects in the Centre need to be approved prior to taking place.

We need to assess your project to ensure that:

  • the resources you ask for (scan hours, staff support, etc) are appropriate and can be delivered by us over the course of the project
  • the most appropriate neuroimaging methods and acquisition parameters are being used and these are appropriate to the scientific question.

Our approval process

Expression of interest forms (EOIs) are required for each new study at CUBRIC. The information within it helps our operational team gauge the amount of resources you require, which enables us to ensure you receive a high level of support while carrying out your research here. The approval process has a four-week turnaround time.

Internal applicants please refer to the CUBRIC wiki pages to access the EOI hub. External applicants please follow these steps:

All applications must go through the expression of interest (EOI) process.

For example:

  • new grant applications
  • PhD students from other Schools
  • clinical cohorts
  • large cohorts (consult with relevant lab manager, or managers).

If you plan to apply for any of these, please download and fill out our expression of interest form.

For clinical or commercial scanning please submit an expression of interest form for clinical/commercial studies.

Once approval has been granted you will also need to read our rules, procedures and relevant risk assessments, as well as sign a form to say you've read and understood them.

In assessing EOIs, we apply the following decision-making process:

  • In cases where no discount is requested, EOIs can be approved by the relevant Lab Manager, the Compute and Data Manager and the Centre Manager.
  • In special circumstances, or unique cases, the Head of Modality may choose to table it at the CUBRIC Management Team meeting in order to reach a decision.

Studies with human participants

If you're conducting a study with human participants, you must have ethics approval from the relevant School, local NHS ethics committee or Health Research Authority before your study begins. All studies will also need to be logged with the School of Psychology Ethics Committee.

Grants proposing to use our facilities

No internal or external grant application using our resources may be submitted without providing a completed expression of interest form and approval being granted.

In the School of Psychology, these forms are a required section of the Internal Peer Review process (IPR), but they must also be completed for grants led by another School within Cardiff University, or indeed for grants led by an external investigator.

Furthermore, any grant proposing to use our facilities needs to be peer-reviewed by an appropriate person from the Centre (or the relevant portion of it, if it contains a variety of methods). Please browse our people pages to select a relevant member of staff.

As well as checking the feasibility of the study, where appropriate, this process will allow scientists within the Centre to suggest modifications that may help improve the quality of an application and increase the chances of it being awarded.

How to apply

Please send your completed form to:

CUBRIC EOI

If you have any queries regarding completing the form, please contact us and we will direct you to the relevant person.

Alternatively, please contact the relevant lab manager directly if you have a specific technical query.

After you apply

Once submitted, your form will be considered by our Directorate, in consultation with the relevant lab manager. All decisions will be recorded and reported to the School of Psychology Research Committee to ensure transparency.

Invoicing scanning charges

You'll need to have funding in place before your study begins and before scanning takes place.

The charge covers data acquisition, with assistance from our staff as necessary, reconstruction of image and transfer of images and associated data (eg behavioural measures) over our network. Raw data and reconstructed images will be archived here at the Centre.

This charge doesn't apply to time that may be needed to analyse data or initially set up a study – for example, to pilot a new acquisition sequence or to refine stimulus presentation or task parameters.

Rates for University researchers

To find out more about the scanning rates for University researchers, please email:

CUBRIC EOI

Rates for all other applicants

For information on scanning rates for all other applicants, such as clinical or commercial applications, please email:

CUBRIC Centre Manager