booking scanner time

Dear Colleagues As The Centre is becoming busier and busier we now do have to make sure that bookings for the scanners works well for all users. We are conscious that we should be sharing time on the scanners in as equitable manner as possible. Some users have been sticking to their allocation whereas others have exceeded it by many,many hours. That was fine during the commissioning period but now with over 50 projects in progress, we do have to ensure that allocation of time is as even as possible. Given that we also need an income stream (the Centre costs nearly £1000 a day to run) we do have to give some priority to those who pay some money. We also have only a small number of operators for MEG and the fact that they have other roles as SLOs for a large number of projects, means that it is extremely difficult to respond to those users who want to make a last minute booking. At the same time, no one wants to see the scanners not being used when there is some science to be done. So.. Please can users help us by booking in the following way The scanner can only be booked by emailing Claire Fox. No one else can make the booking in the database. Please book the scanner (MEG or MRI) by Thursday of the week before you want to scan. You don't have to know the name of the participant at that stage. This helps us by allowing us to plan the diaries of the operators and the SLOs for the following week. It means that we can be more effective in supporting the wide range of projects. Please email the details of the participant to Claire by at least the day before the actual scan. This allows Claire to enter the participant's details into the database. This is essential. To access your data you will need to know the participant's ID in the database. If you do not have this the automated uploading of MEG & MRI information, the automated brain extraction, the conversion of the MEG files to be readable by Matlab or Python does not happen. Valuable scanning time is being lost when users try and get the participant ID at the time of their booking. If you have difficulty recruiting a participant then email Claire and we will place an advert on the webpage for you. This needs to be done well in advance of the scan booking of course. If you have not managed to recruit someone then please do not just go into the open plan area and ask for a volunteer. This puts undue pressure on the users doing their work there and this is unethical. We have had several complaints from students in particular that they feel that cannot say no to staff requests. If you cannot recruit someone then tell Claire to postpone your booking. If you just don't turn up you will lose that time from your allocation. If you need to book the scanner at the last minute. Please email the director to discuss your requirements. Please do not ask Claire. Claire is not in a position to judge who should get special attention and again this puts her in a difficult position if she feels that she turn down your request. We don't want to see the scanner being idle, but we do have to make sure that resource is available to provide an operator. Eventually, when we have enough paying users, we will have a full time set of operators to help all MEG requests. We are allowing teams who can operate the scanners to take advantage of 'free' time on the scanners. Why not join one of the MEG or MRI training programmes in the autumn to learn how to be an operator. If this is not clear, or you feel that there is a better way, why not email me or the ynic-users group to discuss it. Gary -- Gary Green Director York Neuroimaging Centre The Biocentre York Science Park Innovation Way Heslington York YO10 5DG tel. 01904 435349 fax 01904 435356 mobile 07986 778954