Call information

Call 2026-II

The Call for Proposals for the 2026-II cycle for beamlines and microscopes is now open.

Deadline: March 3^rd, 2026, at 14:00 (CEST)

The Call for Proposals for the 2026-II cycle will cover experiments scheduled from end of June to December 2026, except for the MX Beamlines, which will cover the entire year.

Information about the specifics of the beamlines can be obtained here
Information about the specifics of the microscopes can be obtained here

For those users applying to MSPD, CLAESS and NOTOS: if your proposal goes to the waiting list, it can be moved to another beamline in case enough beamtime is available. Please, indicate your preferred beamline and the second option in the text of the proposal.

Applications for researcher’s access to beamlines and electron microscopes will be submitted the user office portal.

Call for proposal

Call 2026-I

The Call for proposals for 2026-I cycle for all beamlines and microscopes is now closed.

Opening: June 30^th, 2025
Deadline: September 8^th , 2025, 14:00 (CEST)

Call for Proposals for 2026-I cycle will cover experiments from January 2026 to June 2026 except for MX Beamlines, which will cover all the year. The beamtime will be distributed between both beamlines by technical suitability and scientific interest.

Information about the specifics of the beamlines can be obtained here
Information about the specifics of the microscopes can be obtained here

For those users applying to MSPD, CLAESS and NOTOS: if your proposal goes to the waiting list, it can be moved to another beamline in case enough beamtime is available. Please, indicate your preferred beamline and the second option in the text of the proposal.

Applications for researcher’s access to beamlines and electron microscopes will be submitted the user office portal.

Call for proposal

Results

Corrigendum (03/12/2026):
English
Español
Català

Funding

Funding rules for users from Spanish home institutions have not changed.
Transport of samples for Remote experiments will be funded for all Spanish users.
More information about funding rules

Call 2025-II

The Call for proposals for 2025-II cycle for all beamlines and microscopes is now closed

Deadline: February 26^th, 2025, 14:00 (CET)

Call for Proposals for 2025-II cycle will cover experiments from July 2025 to December 2025 except for MX Beamlines, which will cover all the year.

Information about the specifics of the beamlines can be obtained here.

Information about the specifics of the microscopes can be obtained here.

For those users applying to MSPD, CLAESS and NOTOS: if your proposal goes to the waiting list, it can be moved to another beamline in case enough beamtime is available. Please, indicate your preferred beamline and the second option in the text of the proposal.

Applications for researcher’s access to beamlines and electron microscopes will be submitted through the new user office portal.

You will not need to register again, if you are already registered as ALBA user (X-ray or TEM program).

Call for proposals

Results

Funding

Funding rules for users from Spanish home institutions have not changed.
Transport of samples for Remote experiments will be funded for all Spanish users.
More information about funding rules

Call 2025-I

The Call for proposals for 2025-I cycle for all beamlines and microscopes is now closed.

Opening: July 1^st, 2024
Deadline: September 9^th , 2024, 14:00 ( CEST)

Call for Proposals for 2025-I cycle will cover experiments from January 2025 to June 2025 except for MX Beamlines, which will cover all the year. The beamtime will be distributed between both beamlines by technical suitability and scientific interest.

Note that in this 2025-I cycle two new beamlines, namely XAIRA (microfocus MX) and FaXToR (micro-computed tomography) are starting user operation with a reduced number of shifts, to be progressively increased in following cycles.

Information about the specifics of the microscopes can be obtained here.

For those users applying to MSPD, CLAESS and NOTOS: if your proposal goes to the waiting list, it can be moved to another beamline in case enough beamtime is available. Please, indicate your preferred beamline and the second option in the text of the proposal.

Applications for researcher’s access to beamlines will be submitted through the current user office portal.

Applications for researcher’s access to electron microscopes will be submitted through the new user office portal (for microscopes only). You will not need to register again, if you are already registered as ALBA user (X-ray or TEM program).

Call for proposals

Results

Funding

Funding rules for users from Spanish home institutions have not changed.
Transport of samples for Remote experiments will be funded for all Spanish users.
More information about funding rules

Call 2024-II

The Call for proposals for 2024-II cycle for beamlines and microscopes is now closed.
This call covers experiments from June 2024 to December 2024.

Information about the specifics of the microscopes can be obtained here.

For those users applying to MSPD, CLAESS and NOTOS: if your proposal goes to the waiting list, it can be moved to another beamline in case enough beamtime is available. Please, indicate your preferred beamline and the second option in the text of the proposal.

Applications for researcher’s access to beamlines will be submitted through the current user office portal.

Applications for researcher’s access to electron microscopes will be submitted through the new user office portal. You will not need to register again, if you are already registered as ALBA user (X-ray or TEM program).

Call for proposals

Results

Corrigendum (29/05/2024):
English
Español
Català

Funding

Funding rules for users from Spanish home institutions have not changed.
Transport of samples for Remote experiments will be funded for all Spanish users.
More information about funding rules

Call 2024-I

The Call for proposals for 2024-I cycle for all beamlines and microscopes is now closed.
This call covers experiments from January 2024 to June 2024, except for BL13-XALOC beamline which will cover all the year.

Information about the specifics of the microscopes can be obtained here.

For those users applying to MSPD, CLAESS and NOTOS: if your proposal goes to the waiting list, it can be moved to another beamline in case enough beamtime is available. Please, indicate your preferred beamline and the second option in the text of the proposal.

Applications for researcher’s access to beamlines will be submitted through the current user office portal.

Applications for researcher’s access to electron microscopes will be submitted through the new user office portal. You will not need to register again, if you are already registered as ALBA user (X-ray or TEM program).

Call for proposals

Results

Funding

Funding rules for users from Spanish home institutions have not changed.
Transport of samples for Remote experiments will be funded for all Spanish users.
More information about funding rules

Call 2023-II Microscope EM01-Cryo-TEM

The Call for proposals for the Call 2023-II cycle for the EM01-Cryo-TEM is now closed.
This call will cover experiments from July 2023 to December 2023. Afterwards, the Cryo-TEM will be integrated in the usual CELLS calls.

Information about the specifics of the Cryo-TEM can be obtained here.

During 2023 applications for researchers’ access to the electron microscopes will be done through e-mail.
To submit a proposal, complete the form and send it to useroffice@cells.es

Proposal template for the EM01-Cryo-TEM

Call for proposals

Results

Funding

The same funding rules for users from Spanish home institutions that apply to the beamlines call will apply for the Cryo-TEM.
More information about funding rules

Call 2023-II

The Call for proposals for 2023-II cycle is now closed.
This call covers experiments from July 2023 to December 2023.

In order to submit a proposal, please use the User Office Portal (log in needed).

For those users applying to MSPD, CLAESS and NOTOS: your proposal may be moved to another of these three beamlines in case that your proposal is benefitting from this beamline or is part of the waiting list; the review panel will assess the situation of each proposal and will suggest the assignment to the Selection Committee. Please, indicate your preferred beamline and the second option in the text of the proposal.

Call for proposals

Results

Funding

Funding rules for users from Spanish home institutions have not changed.
Transport of samples for Remote experiments will be funded for all Spanish users.
More information about funding rules

Express Call 2023-I Microscope EM01-Cryo-TEM

The Call for proposals for the Express Call 2023-I cycle for the EM01-Cryo-TEM is now closed.
This call will cover experiments from April 2023 to June 2023. Afterwards, the Cryo-TEM will be integrated in the usual CELLS calls.

Information about the specifics of the Cryo-TEM can be obtained here.

During 2023 applications for researchers’ access to the electron microscopes will be done through e-mail.
To submit a proposal, complete the form and send it to useroffice@cells.es

Proposal template for the EM01-Cryo-TEM

Call for proposals

Results

Funding

The same funding rules for users from Spanish home institutions that apply to the beamlines call will apply for the Cryo-TEM.
During this call, Portuguese users will be funded in the same conditions than Spanish users.
More information about funding rules

Call for continuous access at MX (BL13-XALOC)

XALOC beamline is continuously open to users for macromolecular crystallography studies based on rapid access concept. However, BAG’s proposals have always priority over this rapid access and ALBA cannot warrant beamtime access, if there is no beamtime slots.

Contact the XALOC beamline responsible to know if there is beamtime slots at the beamline. If there are slots, you are encouraged to submit rapid access standard proposal.

The same regulatory rules apply for this rapid call, but proposals are evaluated in 3 weeks maximum and beamtime is only awarded in case of beamtime slots.

European (not Spanish) proposals are only funded in remote access. Non-European proposals are also welcome but they cannot be funded.

Covid-19 Rapid access (all beamlines) - OPEN

Given the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, knowledge about the virus characteristics and the development of its possible vaccine and treatment are high priority in all research institutions worldwide.

ALBA assigns high priority to the projects related to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. A "COVID-19 Rapid Access" call was established. Quick peer and safety review will be applied to the received proposals.

In order to submit a proposal for COVID-19 related research please use the User Office Portal (log in needed). Inside, go to "New proposal" section and create a new one after choosing "COVID-19" option.

Regulatory bases