The facility supports in-house research and also provides preparation and experimental laboratories to support experimental geoscience research programs carried out by members of the wider UK geoscience community. The service provided by the facility managers is based on scientific collaboration and interaction with the facility’s customers.

Access to the laboratories is provided on a pay-as-you-go basis, with full experimental costs subject to the diverse nature and duration of the experimentation proposed by the user. Prospective users will be required to contact the facility manager to identify overall experimental costs at an early stage of project development. Naturally, access to the facility is available for users running funded projects established independently of collaboration with the Edinburgh facility, subject to agreement on experimental costs.

The service provided is available to research students, postdoctoral researchers, fellows and academics. Experimental programs across a wide experimental base, ranging from one-off pilot experiments, through short visits to long-term collaborative research programs, are supported. The facility welcomes applications to act as a host for UK and European funded Research Fellows.