Guides to ap­ply by pro­ject type

This project category is intended for applicants without experience with the application procedure for resource use of high performance computing, and without deeper background knowledge of high performance computing. Your application will be assigned to one of the NHR centers, from where you will receive advice, and limited HPC resources for use for one year. The goal is easy access, and to enable you to subsequently submit a successful proposal in the Normal or Large project categories.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to write us at pc2-support@uni-paderborn.de or join our regular consultation hour (Sprechstunde): https://events.uni-paderborn.de/category/13/.

Steps:

1. visit the online application portal at NHR-JARDS and login with you university mail and click on "New NHR Starter Project Application"
2. follow the steps
3. In "Resource Selection", please select "PC2" in "Please select a center that you would prefer to be assigned to your application by the NHR Verein"
4. and Finalize.
5. Your project will be created within a few days and we will contact you.

Please first check the requirements for an NHR-Normal or NHR-Large Project:

• The principal investigator has to have a Ph.D degree (or equivalent) and must to be member of a German University (including Fachhochschulen and HAWs).
• The required compute resource fit in the chosen category:
  • NHR-normal: less than 30 Mio. CPU-core-hours and less than 100.000 GPU-h per year, can be applied for and started at any time
  • NHR-large: more than 30 Mio. CPU-Core-hours or more than 100.000 GPU-h per year, four fixed call for proposals per year, possible project period starts at 1.1, 1.4, 1.7 or 1.10
  • If you are unsure about your requirements please contact us via one of our support possibilities.

To apply for a NHR-normal or NHR-large project at PC2 please follow the steps:

1. Decide if one of the possible simplifications is viable for you:
   • Multi-year Project: only one proposal for a multi-year project
   • Simplified Extension: an exisiting project can be extended with a much shorter detailed description
   • Using one of the well-known codes
   • For normal projects: Project was already scientifically reviewed by a German federal ministry (BMBF, BMWK, BMUV, BMEL,...), DFG, GCS, European Union (EU projects), Volkswagen Stiftung, or another NHR center
2. Fill out the detailed description template: Templates
3. Fill out the Proposal Form:
   • For NHR-Normal Projects:
     • Login at the PC2-JARDS online proposal system with your university mail. You will get a mail with login information.
     • Then click the gray button "New normal-Project Application", respectively and fill out the forms. If you have any question please contact us via one of our support possibilities.
     • On the last page click "SUBMIT". A few minutes later, you will get a mail with the proposal as a pdf attached.
   • For NHR-Large Projects:
     • Login at the NHR-JARDS online proposal system with your university mail. You will get a mail with login information.
     • Then click the gray button "New NHR Large Project Application" and fill out the forms. If you have any question please contact us via one of our support possibilities.
     • On the last page click "SUBMIT". A few minutes later, you will get a mail with the proposal as a pdf attached.
4. Sign the Proposal: The principal investigator (PI) and project administrator (PA) need to sign the pdf either by hand signature or electronically and send the signed document to pc2-support@uni-paderborn.de.
5. Wait for Further Steps:  
   • NHR-Normal Project:
     • In case the project has already been scientifically reviewed: Then the Ressource Allocation Board of PC2 will decide on the proposal typically withing 5 work days.
     • In case the project has NOT already been scientifically reviewed: 
       • In case the acceptance of the project is likely, then the project will be preliminarily granted within a few work days and you can start using our systems with a restricted compute contingent.
       • Then your proposal will enter the external scientific review. This usually takes 4-6 weeks. If your project was successfully reviewed and accepted, the compute resources will, be incresed to the granted value.
   • NHR-Large Project:
     • The offical start date of large projects, i.e., the start of project period are 1.1, 1.4, 1.7 or 1.10. The current start date is also listed in the Call for Proposals for Large Projects.
     • In case the acceptance of the project is likely, then the project will be preliminarily granted within a few work days and you can start using our systems with a restricted compute contingent before the official start of the project period.
     • Then your proposal will enter the external scientific review. This usually takes several weeks. If your project was successfully reviewed and accepted, the compute resources will, be incresed to the granted value.
6. Additional User Accounts: If you or a person that should use the projects resources don't have a user account at Paderborn University (aka. IMT account), then please request a user account.

Please first check the requirements for a Small Project:

• The required compute resource fit in the small category, i.e., less than 4 Mio. CPU-core-hours and less than 10,000 GPU-h. 
• The principal investigator has to have a Ph.D (or equivalent).
• The principal investigator needs to be a member of Paderborn University or a university (including Fachhochschulen and HAWs) in North-Rhine-Westphalia that doesn't have it's own compute center. A few exceptions are possible (see below).

To apply for a small project at PC2 please follow the steps:

1. Fill out the Proposal Form: Create a small proposal in our online proposal system
   1. Login with your university mail. You will get a mail with login information.
   2. Then click the gray button "New small-Project Application" and fill out the forms. If you have any question please contact us via one of our support possibilities.
   3. On the last page click "SUBMIT". A few minutes later yoou will get a mail with the proposal as a pdf attached.
2. Sign the Proposal: The principal investigator (PI) and project administrator (PA) need to sign the pdf either by hand signature or electronically and send the signed document to pc2-support@uni-paderborn.de.
3. Wait for the Decision: We will process the proposal and you will get a decision within a few work days. If the project is granted, you will get the relevant information by mail.
4. Additional User Accounts: If you or a person that should use the projects resources don't have a user account at Paderborn University (aka. IMT account), then please request a user account.

Exceptions

The following exceptions are possible for small compute time projects:

1. If the principal investigator is a member of a university (including Fachhochschulen and HAWs) in North-Rhine-Westphalia that doesn't have it's own compute center, then a small project is possible.
2. If the projects has a special emphasis on FPGA acceleration of HPC codes then any academic researcher (worldwide) can apply. 
3. If the resources are needed for teaching (courses, Bachelor or Master thesis) then members of Paderbron university as well as members of a university (including Fachhochschulen and HAWs) in North-Rhine-Westphalia that doesn't have it's own compute center, can get a small project with the limitations listed in the access table.

The remaining requirements (PI has Ph.D an so on) still apply.

Please first check the requirements for a Test Project:

• The principal investigator has to have a Ph.D (or equivalent).
• The required compute resources are only for testing or scalability analysis for example as a preparation for small, normal or large preoject proposal.

To apply for a test project at PC2 please follow the steps:

1. Fill out the Proposal Form: apply for a test project in our online proposal system
   1. Login with your university mail. You will get a mail with login information.
   2. Then click the gray button "New small-Project Application" and fill out the forms. If you have any question please contact us via one of our support possibilities.
   3. On the last page click "SUBMIT". A few minutes later yoou will get a mail with the proposal as a pdf attached.
2. Sign the Proposal: The principal investigator (PI) and project administrator (PA) need to sign the pdf either by hand signature or electronically and send the signed document to pc2-support@uni-paderborn.de.
3. Wait for the Decision: We will process the proposal and you will get a decision within a few work days. If the project is granted, you will get the relevant information by mail.
4. Additional User Accounts: If you or a person that should use the projects resources don't have a user account at Paderborn University (aka. IMT account), then please request a user account.