Facility FAQs
I am an Honours/Undergraduate SCIE student – how do I gain independent access to a Core Facility?
The flow of approvals for independent access is as follows:
- Honours/Undergraduate students must attend an SBMS Building Induction via the FoM OHS team prior to seeking access to a core facility.
- Honours/Undergraduate students must undertake a Core Facility-specific induction before they can work either directly or indirectly supervised.
- Students must keep their training records up to date.
- Honours/Undergraduate students must undertake equipment-specific inductions and training provided by the Core Facility Management staff prior to using SBMS Core Facility equipment.
- Honours/Undergraduate students must be deemed competent on equipment prior to working independently. Competency can be achieved/recognised by undertaking supervised work.
Student Name | Induction/Initial Training | Observed Work of Others | Work Directly Observed by Supervisor | Worked Alone Without Incident |
Jane Smith | ||||
The progression to competence may be granted by either a Core Facility Manager/Team member, or a graduate expert/competent user who has been given supervisory authority by the Core Facility Manager (this may be an Academic, Technical Officer, Postdoctoral Fellow or Senior PhD student).
- SBMS Honours students, once deemed competent, can work independently (without direct supervision) outside of normal business hours by seeking approval from a Core Facility Manager. Only Facility Managers can approve after-hours access.
- Undergraduate SCIE students can obtain approval to work independently during normal business hours, without direct supervision, as outlined above. However, they must always have indirect supervision. SCIE students will not be granted after-hours access to SBMS Core Facilities, unless under the direct supervision of an approved supervisor.
What is the definition of an “Internal” versus “External” facility user?
The guidelines around the categorisation of facility users are as follows:
External users incur external user fees, while internal users are charged at subsidized internal rates for the use of Facility equipment. In addition, categorisation may have implications for facility/equipment access, as in some cases internal users are given priority when booking heavily used equipment.
Definitions
Internal user – any facility user whose direct supervisor has a primary (or significant) appointment in SBMS and whose financial accounts are administered by SBMS.
External user – any facility user whose direct supervisor does not hold a primary or joint appointment with SBMS and whose financial accounts are administered outside of SBMS.
Policy
By default, internal or external fee structures will be applied to users based on the definitions outlined above. However, under some circumstances researchers that fall under external categorisation may request internal rate structures. Such requests shall be considered on a case-by-case basis by the relevant SBMS Core Facility Manager.