How to access our services
The Technology Facility is open to both external academic and commercial users.
There is a range of access options - from using the equipment yourself to the Technology Facility staff providing a full service and undertaking the experiments on your behalf.
Direct usage (use it yourself)
The majority of the equipment in the Technology Facility is available for use by 'super-users' who, after initial training, are permitted to use the instrumentation by themselves. This offers an efficient and cost effective manner to access state-of-the-art equipment and to undertake your experiments. Staff are always on hand to offer troubleshooting and advice. Extended visits to work in our labs are often possible. Dedicated office facilities can easily be provided to visiting researchers.
Full service
If you do not have the time to undertake the experiments yourself or do not intend to use the equipment frequently, we can provide a full service where our experienced staff will undertake your experiments for you. In many cases this can be the most beneficial route to take as the staff are both efficient and have experience in many sample types and can often optimise the conditions and exploit other techniques that you may not have been aware of.
Consultancy and collaborative research
We can efficiently help you to develop your research by providing expert consultancy and undertaking collaborative research programmes. Our collaborative research programmes can benefit from Government support, for example through the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships scheme. In addition, initial proof of concept work and method development can be progressed through 20-week placements involving the highly trained students from our MSc in Bioscience Technology programme.
Terms and Conditions
Our standard Terms and Conditions for contract services are available General Terms and Conditions of Contract Services-Jan16.pdf (PDF 
, 137kb). However, we are more than happy to develop specific agreements or contracts for individual projects as required.
Training and courses
We offer a range of training opportunities to suit your needs, covering many different techniques. If you are looking for a specific course, then as well as our routine courses, we can tailor group courses to suit your own needs. This would enable you to train staff on specific techniques directly related to your requirements. We can also host extended visits for your staff to work alongside our experts.
Charging
We offer various charge routes. You can either be charged on a pay-as-you-go system where you simply pay for the hours or runs used. The other option is to ask for a quote for a set piece of work. All work undertaken is treated in the strictest of confidence and we are happy to work under both informal and formal agreements.
Quality Management System
We operate a robust Quality Management System which can be tailored to suit your requirements. Formal auditing by your QA Department can be arranged as required.
Other University facilities
Information regarding other commercially available facilities within the University is available on the Research and Enterprise website.
Contact us for more information