External visitors must have a safety induction before commencing work in the facility, should not work out of hours and must be fully supervised until the facility team are comfortable with autonomous use. Facility access by external users must be approved by the facility director.  In most cases, arrangements for access will be arranged directly with the facility and subject to standard invoicing arrangements.

Sometimes external researchers may arrange access to the facility as part of collaborations with UoB groups. If all work in the facility is carried out by an experienced user based here and the UoB group will pay the charges there is no need to involve facility staff and the Bristol collaborators are responsible for arranging building safety induction etc.

If any visitor will run microscopes or use any other equipment they must first receive full training by facility staff which will be charged at the standard training rate. If facility charges will be paid by the external user the financial arrangements must be approved in advance by the facility director. If funds are transferred to the University as part of a collaborative agreement the facility costings should be calculated using the project costing tool and comply with the University’s financial guidelines.  Any funds costed for facility use are expected to be transferred to the facility.

To enable external visits as part of a collaboration it is sometimes possible to arrange bookings that exceed standard daily/weekly limits but this has to be arranged with the facility director and will be on the understanding that such external bookings are subject to a zero tolerance policy on cancellations.

If you plan to have external visitors use the facility it is best to clarify the necessary arrangements with the facility director well in advance of the visit.