Services provided by the UC

Internal users

The university cluster Physon provides free access to the computing resources of all employees, PhD students and students from “St. Kliment Ohridski” university of Sofia.

External users from other academic institutions

As part of the national infrastructure Physon provides free access to computing resources for external users.

Access policy

The scientific infrastructure of the Laboratory of High Performance Computing (HPC L) is an e-infrastructure built upon the concept of triangle of knowledge, education and innovation, and therefore has a major role in the development of knowledge and technology and their usage. Offering high quality services to consumers, including young researchers, master and doctorate students, attracting new consumers and preparing them for a new generation of researchers, the scientific infrastructure helps to structure the scientific community and plays a key role in constructing an effective scientific environment for innovation.

The services (computational resources, consultancy, education, training, and mentoring) make the infrastructure more accessible by removing geographical barriers, remote access allows physical location of technique to be less important. The nature of the scientific infrastructure and its data stored has a lot of challenges in terms of ownership and the need for access rules. The exponential growth of the data contributes even more to the need for effective access and storage. These rules comply with guidelines and principles set out in the European Charter for Access to Research Infrastructures, Link

I. Principles:

• Access policy:

HPC lab has a policy for regulating, granting and offering access to the scientific infrastructure of potential users, depending on their affiliation – academia, business, industry, or public institutions. The lab team supports, when it is possible, the policy of free access to publications and data, obtained with the help

• Acknowledgement and co-authorship:

Users are advised to acknowledge the infrastructure used in all publications, patents, data obtained as a result of the use of the infrastructure. Consumers are encouraged to offer co-authorship to these researchers working in the scientific infrastructure that have made possible a significant scientific achievement in their work.

• Legal compliance:

The rules for access to the Scientific Infrastructure are in accordance with the national legislation, international agreements, Horizon 2020 recommendations especially, but not only, in areas such as intellectual property rights, confidentiality, ethical considerations, and security and protection.

• Costs and fees:

To the extent it is necessary, a variety of funding models are applied in order to cover the costs, including the collection of access charges, for to achieve the financial sustainability of research infrastructure.

• Ethical behavior and research integrity

The scientific infrastructure and users adhere to standard codes of ethical behavior in research.

• Non-discrimination

In granting users access rights, the management of scientific the research infrastructure must not discriminate on personal grounds, but to use equal opportunities policies. The administration responsible for the choice of granting access rights should be kept to a minimum.

• Research data management

The HPCL prepares a plan for the management of the data obtained during the research, which ensure that data are stored and used appropriately for a specified period; and are available for referencing and reuse. HPCL encourages professionals to give free access to data where possible.

• User instructions

HPCL provides users with instructions for effective access to science infrastructure.

II. Access to resources for business and industry

1. Access policy

The policy of access to the HPC lab is defined in the terms of access units (time, amount of data, etc.), modes of access for individual user groups, access conditions, process and communication with access and assistance from the engineering staff of the laboratory
.
h3. 2. Types of access

HPC laboratory uses a combination of the following access methods, depending on the user group.

• Access to excellence:

Such an access is provided to partners and external experts working under framework programs. It depends exclusively on the originality, quality and the technical feasibility of the application, assessed by internal or external expert. provides access to the best rated resources and services. This mode of access allows collaborative research and technology development regardless of geographical constraints.

• Wide access:

It is provided to research groups from academia and public institutions. It guarantees a wide range of consumption of scientific data and digital services provided by the e-infrastructure of
consumers, no matter where they are. This increases the possibility of publicity of the resources that are offered.
• Market-oriented access: applied with a separate agreement with the business
users, which accurately describes the fees for access to the various services, and f
confidential.

3. Restrictions on access

HPCL restricts access to databases and resources to certain groups of users of quota principle. Such restrictions are made in user training, in use of industry resources if necessary. They are settled by legal and contractual obligations and financial contributions.

4. Communication with users

Communication with users is regulated by regulations for application and regulation of access to infrastructure. HPCL provides publicity for access rules, negotiates with each individual user, motivates their decision on the method of access to each user offers a user guide as well as technical assistance and user assistance. HPCL offers transparent information on the determination of infrastructure access rights. In joint agreements / contracts with the user is specified access rights, intellectual property, protection of data, confidentiality and related fees. HPCL provides the protection of user data following GRDPR +. In addition, the HPCL monitors the quality of the services offered by seeking feedback from users.

5. Training

LVPI offers training to students, doctoral students, post-doctoral students and young scientists on the use of e-infrastructure in order to prepare young people for future research. It also offers user courses on infrastructure.

6. Implementation obligations

HPCL provides the following services:
(a) free access to infrastructure for selected user groups, which manages, including all logistical, technological and scientific support, as well as the specific training that is usually provided to external researchers, using the infrastructure;
(b) widely disclose, including on a dedicated website, the offers access, in such a way that researchers wishing to gain access to infrastructure, to be informed of the opportunities available to them;
© ensure that consumers comply with the terms and conditions of these rules;
(d) keep appropriate documentation to support and justify the quantity reported
access; this documentation must include records of names, nationalities and
the institutions of origin of consumers, as well as the nature and quantity of access,
which is provided to them.

7. Eligibility and selection of user groups

Only user groups authorized to disseminate background knowledge received within the infrastructure are eligible for free use of access to infrastructure under these rules.

(a) User groups requesting access must provide the LPPI in writing a description of the work they wish to carry out, as well as the names, nationalities and consumer institutions of origin.

(b) The access provider (LVPI) shall convene a selection committee to assist him in the choice of user groups. This selection board evaluates all received suggestions and recommends a list of selected user groups to receive free access. In its work it applies the principles of transparency, fairness and impartiality.
© The selection panel shall be composed of experts in the field, at least half of whom shall be
independent of infrastructure.
(d) The selection panel shall base its selection on scientific merit, whereas priority should be given to user groups made up of users who have not used the infrastructure before
(e) The Access Provider shall request the written approval of the Executive Board in the selection of groups of users who want access for more than 3 months.

8. Reports and material results

The access provider (LVPI) shall include in the periodic reports on the activities related to access, a section indicating the members of the selection board, and the quantity access granted to user groups, with a description of their work, and the names and institutions of origin of the consumers.

9. Publicity

The access provider shall ensure that it takes all necessary measures to ensure that that in their publications users sufficiently disclose support, under in relation to the access granted to them. The HPCL team is empowered to publish the list of users in any form and by any means or media, including the Internet.