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Establishing a Research Agreement with Brookhaven National Laboratory

The type of agreement that is applicable depends on the work being conducted, where the work is being done, and who is sponsoring the research.

About User Agreements

If you are not a Brookhaven employee, a User Agreement signed by your home institution is a prerequisite for experimental work at any of Brookhaven Lab’s user facilities. Guests are not permitted to do experimental work at any of Brookhaven’s User Facilities until a User Agreement with that individual's home institution is established.

Shown below, sorted by agreement type,  is list of institutions that have agreements with Brookhaven Lab. If your institution is listed under the appropriate agreement type, the necessary agreement is already in place. If your institution is not listed, you must secure an agreement by completing the online User Agreement Questionnaire. This is the first step toward putting a Master User Agreement in place to cover liability, indemnification, intellectual property, and financial issues. When the User Agreement Questionnaire is received and processed, Brookhaven Lab will furnish the appropriate User Agreement(s) to your institution for signature.

Questions

Kathy Nasta

Guest, User, Visitor Center
Brookhaven National Laboratory

agreements@bnl.gov
Phone: 631-344-7114
Fax: 631-344-8686

Non-Proprietary

List of Institutions with Non-Proprietary User Agreement in place

Sample Agreement

Proprietary

List of Institutions with Proprietary User Agreement in place

Sample Agreement

How Research Agreement Types Compare

Non-proprietary Research Proprietary Research Open Data Research
  • Facility use costs are not paid
  • Full cost recovery for facility use is paid
  • Full cost recovery for facility use is paid
  • Users are NOT charged for machine time or potential agreed upon collaborative effort of Brookhaven researchers; users may be charged for ancillary materials, supplies, and services obtained from the User Facility.
  • Users ARE charged for machine time and limited support services (non-collaborative) from Brookhaven personnel on a full cost recovery basis.
  • Users ARE charged for machine time and limited support services (non-collaborative) from Brookhaven personnel on a full cost recovery basis.
  • Users must intend to publish their research results in the open scientific literature. Research results are available to the public.
  • Users may keep their research results private.
  • Users must intend to publish their research results in the open scientific literature. Research results are available to the public.
  • No Statement of Work (SOW) is required.
  • An approved Statement of Work (SOW) is required.
  • An approved Statement of Work (SOW) is required.
  • Proposal may be required by the facility to obtain machine time.
  • Proposal may be required by the facility to obtain machine time.
  • At TVdG, a Time Reservation Form is required. At NSRL, prior arrangement is required.
  • Users may retain title to their researchers' inventions, and Brookhaven retains title to its researchers' inventions;  the Government retains a royalty-free license and some oversight of utilization efforts.
  • Users may retain title to the inventions; Government rights are extremely limited.
  • Users may retain title to their researchers' inventions, and Brookhaven retains title to its researchers' inventions;  the Government retains a royalty-free license and some oversight of utilization efforts.
  • Users may access the user facility with or without collaboration of Brookhaven researchers.
  • Users may access the user facility with or without limited support (non-collaborative) from Brookhaven personnel.
  • Users may access the user facility with or without limited support (non-collaborative) from Brookhaven personnel.
  • Users provide sufficient information to ensure that each planned experiment can be performed safely.
  • Users provide sufficient information to ensure that each planned experiment can be performed safely.
  • Users provide sufficient information to ensure that each planned experiment can be performed safely.
  • Brookhaven personnel provide appropriate safety training and oversight.
  • Brookhaven personnel provide appropriate safety training and oversight.
  • Brookhaven personnel provide appropriate safety training and oversight.
  • The experiment is not directed towards researching and/or producing a specific commercial end result (e.g., a marketable product)
  • The experiment may be directed towards researching and/or producing a specific commercial end result (e.g., a marketable product)
  • The experiment is not directed towards researching and/or producing a specific commercial end result (e.g., a marketable product)

Please note: Proprietary agreements are facility-specific. If you are conducting proprietary work at more than one facility, you will need to have agreements with each facility. If you are conducting both proprietary and non-proprietary work, you will need to sign both agreements.

Other Agreement Types