Description: Large research projects are projects intended for production use, as well as for the development of software systems and algorithms, adaptation of existing software, or methodology testing of specific scientific prototypes, when large amounts of computing resources or data stores must be used for the process or due to the amount of data. Any project proposal of this type is expected to have a major impact at the international level.
Amount of allocated resources: It will be determined for all projects together for one year in each call separately.
Conditions for users: LRP projects are granted access for 12 months with the possibility of extension for a maximum of 12 months based on a report and assessment of project progress, with a total maximum length of two years from the granting of access. Computing resources are allocated according to SLING task scheduling standards; on certain systems, a special system of resource utilization rules may be in use.
Beneficiaries, review process and allocation: the applicant must apply for LRP projects to one of the regularly issued calls. Based on the assessment of technical suitability and feasibility, the applications are checked by a group of experts using the criteria of scientific excellence with a scientific review. In terms of technical relevance, preference is given to production projects where the available resources can significantly improve results, for example, when it comes to highly parallel or well-scalable simulations, for applications that can take advantage of a large number of computing nodes, using highly scalable algorithms, high throughput data, large datasets or have special hardware needs, e.g. the use of graphics accelerators. This will take into account the resources available within the SLING capacities.
Possibility of renewal: LRPs are granted for one year with the possibility of extension based on the evaluation of the performance of the previous work.
Project support: SLING provides high-level technical support to each LRP project organized by a user support team. In specific cases, the applicant may request the support of experts at the time of application to solve specific problems or to ensure the optimization required by the project. Such support must be requested and justified by the applicant in the project application.
Limitations: The applicant can be the research leader for a maximum of one LRP project in each call period.
Project application: Project application is possible via the application form, the link to which is available with each current call.
Instructions for project application
Project applications are subject to an assessment of technical suitability and feasibility as well as a scientific review, so applications must include the following components, which you attach as files to the application form:
- project proposal – should not be longer than 10 A4 pages with pictures and references (you can download a blank template here). The proposal must contain the following elements:
- project name,
- summary (in a format suitable for publication on the website or in the infrastructure manager’s report),
- socio-economic effects,
- scientific research goals,
- description of algorithms and research methods, description of approach to parallelization,
- benchmarking and scaling,
- resource requirements, including information on infrastructure requirements – hardware type, processing capacity requirements, memory, disk capacity requirements, I/O and network requirements, dedicated hardware such as general-purpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs) or programmable circuits FPGA,
- needs for development and programming tools (compilers, libraries, debuggers, support, etc.),
- project duration and anticipated project steps (projects lasting several years must include a research plan and anticipated project steps to justify multi-year research),
- results so far:
- a list of granted accesses and a brief description of the previous work, which shows the technical areas of HPC use and the use of relevant programming languages,
- list of related publications with previous accesses;
- previous experience (brief outline of previous work, general experience and mastery of intensive computer processing, applications and programming languages, experience and anticipated needs for support in software preparation, translation, installation, optimization, etc.; add a list of possible previous projects),
- list of collaborators in the project (name, organization, username and identification data of existing users),
- you can propose up to two scientific reviewers (provide name, organization and contact) and exclude up to two scientific reviewers.
- CV of applicants,
- list of applicants’ publications,
- a list of references, including previous applications and letters of support,
- a statement that the applicant will comply with the rules on the use of resources, the rules of permissible use, and the obligation to mention the capacity provider in all publications arising from the use of capacities, and the obligation to notify the local administrator in the event of unexpected events (the blank statement is available here)
- signed and confirmed document with which you agree to the terms of the GDPR – signed by all project members (blank template available here)
Please note that a project application that lacks any of the listed mandatory components may be rejected.
Extension and work report
In order to extend the project, managers of multi-year projects must submit a progress report after one year, on the basis of which the extension of the project can be approved. The project will be suspended if the report is not submitted on time.
- Leaders of large research projects (LRP) that anticipate a duration of more than a year must submit a progress report to the Commission, together with justification of resource needs, at least one month before the end of the first year from the allocation of resources.
- When renewing a project or applying for an extension, the project may request a maximum of 20% more resources than were approved in the original resource allocation.
- Managers are also required to submit a project progress report every six months after the allocation of resources.
- Progress reports and requests for extensions must contain a list of project collaborators, the amount of scientific research hours of dedicated scientific work by researchers on the project, and any references and publications (published or in the process of peer review) as well as data on the achievement of goals and project steps in relation to the original project application ( a blank template is available here).
- After the completion of the project, the manager is obliged to submit a final report (a blank template is available here).
Requests for project extensions and all reports can be sent to support@sling.si.
HPC Leonardo: calls for applications that will use the Slovenian share of resources on the Leonardo supercomputer will be held under the terms of VRP projects.
