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MEG Bookings

Where to make a MEG Booking

February 1st 2026. Booking Cost: £421.76 per hour.

A Calpendo Project Code is required to make Bookings,
- [Project Proposals Process]

MEG Bookings are placed by MEG Operators, pending Admin. approval, using the following link.

Log in with ADF username and password, providing any 2-factor authentication.
- Username MUST BE all lower case.

No MEG Lab usage, of any kind, is permitted on Sundays!

Standard Acquiring hours for use

  • 9am–7pm (Monday to Wednesday)
    • Please DO NOT EXTEND acquiring past 7pm.
  • 9am–5pm (Thursday to Saturday)
    • IT MAY BE POSSIBLE TO EXTEND acquiring time to ~5:30pm, but only depending on prior usage/the IHR tank pressures are not too high.
      - Check the Scheduler.

The pre-defined slot times are as follows:

Monday to Wednesday Thursday to Saturday
09:00 - 11:00 09:00 - 11:00 Morning
11:00 - 13:00 11:00 - 13:00 Noon
13:00 - 15:00 13:00 - 15:00 Early Afternoon
15:00 - 17:00 15:00 - 17:00 Late Afternoon
17:00 - 19:00 Evening
  • Default usage is 6 hours (3 slots) per Project per Week.
  • Bookings can be made up to 3 months in advance.

If Screening is still required

  • If screening Participants for illness is still required as part of a MEG RA, read and follow the School of Psychology Procedure
    • Item #3., "Pre-Screen Questionnaire.docx", in "Historic Documents".

How to make a MEG booking

Left click on a time on a day that has free slots (times that are free are indicated in green (possibly blue) and should be blank).
The mouse can also be dragged (holding left-click) to choose the time.
Fill out the details as follows:

  • For Type: Choose from ...

    • Project Setup (Equipment/Testing).
    • Project Development (when the gathered data is used for testing whether the experiment works, and not for publication).
    • Acquiring Project Data (when the gathered date is to be used for publication).
    • Demo/Teaching (used rarely, to booked by PI only).

  • For Project: Select a Project Code e.g. B-2019-00001.

  • For Status: Please leave on Best possible.

  • For Using MEG – No liquefaction possible: Only change to No if just testing software/triggering etc. and the gantry/probe unit will be left in liquefaction position (25o).

  • In the Description panel, indicate who will be in the lab e.g. Booker + second MEG Operator, Shadower.

    • Participant name no longer needs to be noted in the panel.

BOOKING RULES

Please be aware that if booking requests/technical support requests are made during the weekend or when MEG Support is on AL, a response may not be immediate.

  • A Project Code is required to make bookings. A Project Code will be provided once a Project Application has been submitted, and the subsequent Project Proposal has been presented and approved.

  • All bookings are requested via Calpendo.

    • Please read, and carefully check, emails, and re-check Calpendo (once a booking has been requested) for any updates.
    • The booking has to be approved by the MEG Support Officer, or one of the CHBH Operations Admins if he is away, before it is final.
    • Bookings made within normal working hours that conform to the pre-defined slots will normally be approved within a (working) day.

  • Modality Lead, via MEG Support, to consider and distribute fairly any slots left over.

  • Any questions regarding any MEG bookings made, please contact MEG Support.

  • Due to the reduced liquefaction time (Monday to Wednesday) it's unlikely Acquiring can take place outside these hours.
    It may be possible to extend acquiring by 30min after the Late Afternoon sessions (Thursday to Saturday) but this depends on prior usage/Helium tank pressure. Check the Scheduler.

    • If unsure about extending the Thursday to Saturday Late Afternoon slot, contact MEG Support.

  • If Acquiring data on a Saturday, a "Testing Buddy" is required.

    • Buddies need to be present for experiment set-up, and remain "on call" within the building for the entirety of the Acquiring session.
    • A Buddy must hold at least "Building General User" status in the CHBH, or if they intend to help out with experiments, then they must be trained up as "MEG General User" or be a "Full MEG Operator".
    • If just testing equipment (stimuli/triggers etc) out of hours, a Buddy is not required.

  • Out-of-Hours Access will need to be requested, and the [Weekend Working] protocol will need to be read BEFORE an out-of-hours booking can be requested.

  • If the MEG is booked for a shorter or longer period than the pre-defined 2 hour slot times, please make sure not to create any unnecessary gaps that are difficult to be filled.

  • The total hours assigned to a Project Code cannot be exceeded. This holds for testing software/equipment, development/pilot hours, as well as Acquiring data.
    Project bookings have a 10% extension allowed to ensure Researchers are not stopped from scanning/acquiring/collecting data if they are waiting for hours to be approved.
    PIs/Project Users gets continual automated emails when the hours are running low...

    This is an automatic warning that you are nearing the maximum amount of hours allocated to your Project code. You will not be able to book more hours than originally allocated to your Project. If you require more testing hours please arrange this with the Management Team lead.

    You have 5 out of 100 for MEG and Project B-2026-00555. This is less than 10%.

     If more hours are needed, and after PI permission, request via email to MEG Modality Lead and Operations Management. If necessary, a Managament Meeting with the Co-Directors may be required if the number of requested hours is more than ten.
    Once approved, extra hours will then be added as "Unfunded" hours to the Project.

  • MEG Operators are allowed to book up to 6 hours (3 slots) per Project per Week.
    After all MEG Operators have had a chance to make bookings, MEG Operators are allowed to book two more slots (4 hours), Monday to Friday, if there are free slots available.
    Please send a courtesy email to "Chbh-meg-operator[at]lists.bham.ac.uk" mentioning this extra booking request (or requests), and asking if all MEG Operators are happy with this, BEFORE making any extra bookings.

    • An extra slot booked on a Saturday would not count towards the allowance, meaning up to 12 hours (or 6 slots) a week could be booked (if other MEG Operators are agreeable).

Note

If not all MEG Operators have booked their six hours, any extra booked slots will need to be relinquished, above the normally allowed hours, to give other MEG Operators fair usage.

  • Bookings made for testing scripts etc. out of hours (when the MEG is in liquefaction) will not be counted towards the weekly allowance.

  • Bookings can be made up to 3 months ahead. Bookings requested further ahead than 3 months need to be asked of, and approved by, the Modality Lead.

CHBH BOOKING CANCELLATION POLICY

  • 72 hours’ notice is required to cancel a booking.

  • Only weekdays (Monday–Friday) are counted when calculating the 72 hours.

    • Weekends do NOT count toward the 72-hour period.

  • Hours are refunded if they are cancelled 72 hours beforehand (not including weekends).

  • If a slot is cancelled within 72 working hours and the slot is not rebooked by another MEG Operator, the Project will be charged the full cost of the session, £421.76 per hour

    • If unfortunately a Participant cancels, please email "Chbh-meg-operator[at]lists.bham.ac.uk" informing that the booked slot is now free.
      • The slot/s will need cancelling from Calpendo BEFORE sending the email.
        There's always the possibility another MEG Operator could then use the slot themselves at the last minute - and the hours would then be recoverable.

  • For every other situation, hours are not refunded, and MEG Operators can request additional unfunded hours to the Co-Directors via the Modality Lead/Operations Manager.

The MEG Support Officer/Administrators reserve the right to cancel bookings in case of technical problems/Service, or Maintenance requirements.
- If bookings are cancelled because of these issues, they will not be charged for.

Scan Day Cancellation Deadline (72 Working Hours Before)
Monday Previous Wednesday – same time
Tuesday Previous Thursday – same time
Wednesday Previous Friday – same time
Thursday Monday – same time
Friday Tuesday – same time
Saturday Wednesday – same time