ANSTO’s user office in Sydney offers access to a wide range of world-class research infrastructure including neutron beam instruments, deuteration facilities and accelerators. ANSTO seeks collaboration and partnerships with research organisations, scientific users and commercial users.
ANSTO Research Portal
Your gateway to all ANSTO research facilities, including Centre for Neutron Scattering, Biosciences, Centre for Accelerator Science, Nuclear Stewardship, and much more.
Legacy ACNS Customer Portal
Use the legacy ACNS Customer Portal to access other ACNS/NDF proposal types, including past proposals.
Australian Synchrotron Portal
Use this portal to submit proposals and subsequent experiments for access to the Australian Synchrotron.
Proposal round deadlines
The call for proposals deadlines is shown in the tables below. The User Office will be able to provide assistance to 5pm on the day of the proposal deadline. Please be aware that the proposal system may experience heavy use in hours leading up to the deadline, so ensure that your proposals are submitted earlier, if possible.
Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering & National Deuteration Facility
| Key Dates | |
|---|---|
| Proposal Round | 2025-2 |
| Access Period | ACNS: September 2025 - January 2026
|
| Call for proposals opens | February 2025 |
| Call for proposals closes | 14 April 2025 11:59pm (AEST) |
| Capabilities and Facilities Offered in this round | Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering National Deuteration Facility |
| Users notified of outcome | From July 2025 |
| How to apply | Applications are closed |
| Key Dates | |
|---|---|
| Proposal Round | 2026-1 |
| Access Period | ACNS: February 2026 - July 2026 |
| Call for proposals opens | July 2025 |
| Call for proposals closes | 15 September 2025 11:59pm (AEST) |
| Capabilities and Facilities Offered in this round | Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering National Deuteration Facility |
| Users notified of outcome | From November 2025 |
| How to apply | Applications will open in July 2025. |
Other ANSTO Capabilities and Facilities
| Key Dates | |
|---|---|
| Proposal Round | 2025-2 |
| Access Period | July- December 2025 |
| Call for proposals closes | 28 February 2025 11:59pm (AEST) |
| Capabilities and Facilities Offered in this round | The Centre for Accelerator Science Environment Research and Technology Group Health Research and Technology Group Vivarium Facility Nuclear Stewardship |
| Users notified of outcome | From June 2025 |
| How to apply | Applications are closed |
| Key Dates | |
|---|---|
| Proposal Round | 2026-1 |
| Access Period | January- June 2026 |
| Call for proposals closes | 31 August 2025 11:59pm (AEST) |
| Capabilities and Facilities Offered in this round | The Centre for Accelerator Science Environment Research and Technology Group Health Research and Technology Group Vivarium Facility Nuclear Stewardship |
| Users notified of outcome | From November 2025 |
| How to apply | Applications are open. |
User guide
General tips for creating your proposal
- To be able to submit a proposal in the portal, you will need to register an account and fill in your personal details. User Profiles WON’T be brought across from the legacy ACNS Customer Portal. Users will have to create their accounts and it is recommended to use the same details as for the Legacy ACNS Customer Portal. Please do not set up multiple accounts.
- Discuss your project with relevant ANSTO scientist(s) before selecting capabilities or facilities. ANSTO’s scientists can work with you to develop your proposal, advise on the most appropriate capability or facility selections, help you optimise the use of our capabilities or facilities. See the capabilities section to view the local contacts.
- All questions which have a red asterisk * must be answered. You don’t have to complete the questions in sequence, however, you will not be able to submit your proposal if you haven’t answered all of the questions.
- If you add figures to your proposal use the file upload facility on this page. You may add five (5) files of up to 3MB each. The file formats may be jpeg, jpg, pdf, and png.
- If the user group has not used ANSTO’s capabilities or facilities before, check the First Time User box.
- Ensure to include all ANSTO staff who will contribute to this proposal and any people who will be associated with the outputs &/or outcomes of this project.
- The Principal Research Scientist can only submit the proposal.
- Save your work frequently to avoid system time-out.
- Avoid using the 'Back' button in your internet browser as the portal will return an error and you may lose valuable un-saved work. You should only ever use the portal-specific buttons to navigate the portal.
- Enable Javascript, cookies and pop-ups on your website browser.
Proposal Examples
Please find a list of example proposals below, for use as a reference when submitting an ACNS Neutron Proposal.
Portal user guides
ACNS & NDF user guide
This user guide provides information to external merit researchers, commercial clients, scientific collaborators and partners who use the ANSTO Research Portal to submit proposals for access to the Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering and National Deuteration Facility.
Other Lucas Heights facilities user guide
This user guide provides information to external merit researchers, commercial clients, scientific collaborators and partners who use the ANSTO Research Portal to submit proposals for access to ANSTO's capabilities and facilities.
Helpful Links
For more information
Contact the Sydney user office
Office Hours Sydney: Monday to Friday 8.00am- 5.00pm