Call for Proposals for NHR-Large Projects: Call 2025-2

Scientists qualified in their respective field of research can submit proposals for access to HPC resources operated by Paderborn Center for Parallel Computing (PC²). We offer multi-million core-hour projects on a recent generation of HPC systems with low-latency interconnect. PC² is one of nine compute centers in Germany of the NHR alliance (Nationales Hochleistungsrechnen). The main focus of Paderborn is on three important application competence areas and their user communities: Atomistic Simulations, Optoelectronics and Quantum Photonics, and Machine Learning for Intelligent Systems. PC² operates its first NHR HPC system Noctua 2 with general availability since April 2022. The second large-scale NHR HPC system is expected to be available in the second quarter of 2025.

PC² provides a portfolio of preinstalled applications and offers support for software installation/configuration of project-specific applications. We provide consulting services for all users and we advise them on using the resources in an efficient way.  In particular, we provide consulting services in the field of Computational Chemistry and Solid-state Physics. Furthermore, PC² encourages approximate computing and the acceleration of applications with Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). Proposals from young scientists and institutions where equal opportunities are concerned are particularly encouraged.

Available Resources

Proposals can be submitted for large projects with more than 30 million core hours or more than 100.000 GPU-hours per year.

Apart from large projects also

• NHR-normal projects (more than 4 million core hours per year and <= 30 million core hours per year, resp. less than 0.1 million GPU hours per year)
• NHR-starter projects (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)
• small projects (4 million or less core hours per year, resp. 0.01 million or less GPU hours per year) and
• test projects (code testing and optimization, limited to a 30 day period, extension possible)

can be submitted at any time.

For details see https://pc2.uni-paderborn.de/system-access.

Who can apply?

Eligible to submit proposals are researchers with a Ph.D. degree or a comparable degree who are members of a public or state-recognized, institutionally accredited German university.

Small projects can only be requested by scientists from universities located in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Exceptions can be made for small proposals with a special emphasis on the development of FPGA acceleration for HPC codes or projects that directly collaborate with PC².

Scientists from universities with local Tier 3-compute center HPC resources should only apply for test projects, NHR-Starter projects, NHR-normal projects, or NHR-large projects.

All proposals should show the potential of achieving results that are intended to be published in scientific journals or presented at conferences.

How to apply?

Please follow out guides for the project categories: test, small, NHR-Starter, NHR-normal or NHR-large projects.

Please note that new simplifications for normal and large proposals are possible:

• Well-known codes: If you use a program that is on our list of well-known codes, then you don't have to include a scaling analysis in the detailed description.
• Project was already scientifically reviewed: If your reserach project has already been reviewed scientifically by a German federal ministry (BMBF, BMWK, BMUV, BMEL,...), DFG, GCS, European Union (EU projects), Volkswagen Stiftung or another NHR center then the detailed description is drastically shorter. For details see simplifications.

The default project duration of large, normal, and small projects is 12 months. Multi-year normal and large projects are possible.

Important Dates for NHR-Large Projects

There are four calls for proposals for large projects per year. The follow-up "Call for Proposals 2025-2" will have an allocation period starting on 1^st of April 2025.

Formal Regulations 

The normal and large proposals will be ranked based on scientific and technical quality in a peer review process. Small projects are reviewed in a continuous internal process.
Proposals may be granted in their entirety, with a changed volume, or rejected by the Resource Allocation Board of PC2.  

• System Access Application
• Terms of Use
• Acknowledgement Statement

Contact

Paderborn University - PC²
PC² - Resource Allocation Board
Warburger Str. 100
33098 Paderborn

pc2-support(at)uni-paderborn(dot)de

Head of the Resource Allocation Board: Prof. Dr. Martin Brehm