Statement of Need for a National Research Facility in Chemical Crystallography

For National Research Facilities (NRFs) to be supported, the EPSRC require a ‘Statement of Need’ exercise to map out the landscape of facilities/equipment and application areas for a given field. The time has come for this to happen for ‘chemical crystallography’ – by which we explicitly mean small molecule, single crystal diffraction. If successful, this exercise would lead to a call for bidders to run a facility much like the current National Crystallography Service, but the Statement of Need should also provide a roadmap for the community to use to make the case for further facilities in the area. Accordingly, it is being driven by an independent champion and the current NCS advisory board.   

To build a picture of what this landscape should look like, it is necessary to engage as broadly as possible with the research community to understand how facilities, both locally and nationally, cater for their needs. This is also an opportunity to raise the profile of this crucial technique and reach out to emergent communities or those less aware – so please do share this page with your colleagues, as well as those in related fields and disciplines.  

We urge you to complete this short questionnaire about how a chemical crystallography NRF could support research communities. This will inform a round of focussed group discussions, from which the response to the Statement of Need exercise will be drawn up.        

You can respond to the questionnaire here.