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Research & Development
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal

ReFOM

The Research Facilities Operation and Management Committee (ReFOM) was formulated in 2020 for the management and operation of the institute's common research facilities/instruments. The committee also recommends for repair/ upgrade of such existing research facilities besides providing recommendations for the creation of new research facilities in the Institute.

Maintenance of Central Facility equipment

At the start of each financiay year, the In-Charges may propose maintenance budget for the central facility. Following form may be filled and timely submitted to the ReFOM, R&D Office for consideration.

Format for maintenance budget of central facility equipment

Proposal for new equipment under central facility

In case there is a need to procure a new equipment as a central facility that may benefit faculty at large across discipline, a proposal along with justification on how the new facility is going to benefit the potential users, details about proposed installation site, revenue generation plan, price quotations, equipment technical details, and other related details may be submitted to ReFOM, R&D Office well in advance.

Request cum proposal form Capital (NC) funds

General Guidelines
A general guideline prepared by the ReFOM committee is provided here. All the instrument in charges are advised to hold meetings with the user and user management committee to recommend the instrument-specific usage policy, which can be shared with ReFOM to be put on the intranet for ease of access to new users.

A general guideline regarding the usage policy for common instruments including CIF and department:

  • The complete list of all common instruments (including CIF and department-specific common instruments) should be available on the intranet along with the details related to the in-charge.
  • Common instruments, whether from CIF or Department, should be accessible to all the users, core or minor.
  • A central online portal for booking slots for all common instruments should be available to all the potential users for maintaining transparency about the availability of the equipment. The instrument booking should only be allowed through this portal. An exception can be made if recommended by the user committee.
  • User committee: The user committee should consist of all users. The user committee should meet at least twice a year or as and when required and should discuss and suggest updating the user policy and standard operating procedures (SOP). The grievances of users should also be discussed as they arise. The user committee can also suggest organizing training of the instrument for new users.
  • User management committee: The user management committee will be constituted by the user committee amongst the instrument's users and based on their technical know-how. The user management committee should meet as and when required and be responsible for implementing the user policy/SOP. This committee should also be responsible for recommending the repair/maintenance/up-gradation of the instrument. The committee should also make a policy for after office hour usage of the instrument by the authorised users. The user committee's revision to add/remove users from the user committee should be done based on the extent of usage as decided by the user management committee.
  • Instrument in-charge: The instrument in-charge of every instrument should be appointed for a period of three years on a rotation basis amongst the core/primary users and based on their technical know-how. The instrument in-charges should take the initiative for organizing the training of new users. For sophisticated instruments, the incharge should invite the instrument engineer to visit periodically for training. Only in the absence of a suitable successor should the next term be given to the pre-existing in-charge. It is advisable to have one among the core users as an in-charge of the facility. The instrument in-charge should also implement the instrument booking through the online portal discussed above.
  • UG/PG lab staff may be encouraged to get trained on some of the common department instruments.