Project Review Panels (PRP)

The DESY Photon Science 'Project Review Panels' (PRP) discuss and rate user proposals for new research projects at DESY light sources PETRA III and FLASH regarding their scientific excellence, their feasibility at the experimental station of choice, and their relevance to the general research programme.

Each PRP consists of at least five external national and international experts (more than hundred scientific referees, nominated for a period of 3 years) and a DESY Photon Science representative acting as secretary. New referees can be suggested by the panels and are nominated the DESY Photon Science Management. An additional Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) organized by EMBL evaluates proposals submitted for beamline P11 and the EMBL Life Science beamlines P12-P14.

The PRP meetings are scheduled twice a year (April/May and October/November). During the meetings the reviewers agree on the final ranking for each proposal. According to the reviewers’ recommendation and ranking, the DESY Photon Science management decides on the final approval. The beamtime is distributed considering the ranking given by the PRPs and the total number of beamtime shifts available at the respective beamline.

Due to the high demand, experimental stations at DESY Photon Science are generally overbooked, and beamtime can be guaranteed not even for all highly ranked projects. After finalization of the beamtime schedule of each beamline DESY Photon Science informs the users about the acceptance of their proposals and the beamtime allocated. The beamtime schedules for each beamline at PETRA III and FLASH are published on the DESY Photon Science web pages.

The use of the facilities is free of charge for academic research, as long as the results are being published according to established standards.

The Project Review Panels are organized along beamlines/facility

  • P01 | P09
  • P02.1
  • P02.2 | P61 (LVP branch DESY)
  • P03 | P62
  • P04 | P66
  • P05 | P06
  • P07 (Hereon Hutches) | P61 (Hereon branch)
  • P08 | P23 | P24
  • P10
  • P21 | P07 (DESY Hutch)
  • P22
  • P64 | P65
  • Proposals for beamlines P11-P14 are reviewed by the EMBL-PEC
  • Soft X-ray - FEL Experiments (all FLASH beamlines)