Proposal for an NHR Centre (Within the National High-Performance Computing Programme)

<Note:
•	Basis for this template is the corresponding Call for NHR Centre proposals. Please check the call for relevant definitions and all review criteria.
•	The language for this proposal is English.
•	You do not have to use the present proposal template (though this is highly recommended) but you must respect the structure, all hints and restrictions mentioned here.
•	Chapter 2 and 3 must not exceed 30 pages in total (10 pt font size, Arial or comparable font).
•	In addition to your information given as text, you are free to use further graphics and tables to support your presentation.
•	Each section contains some explanatory text (in grey) what information you should provide here. Please delete this text after filling this template.
•	In the following, we always refer to a single computing facility. When you apply for a joined NHR Centre, all information should refer to every concerned institution.>
Table of Content
1	General Data About the Applying Institution/Group of Institutions
2	Presentation of the Applying Computing Facility
2.1	Principal Investigators
2.2	Short Profile of the Computing Facility
2.3	Description of the Existing Infrastructure
2.4	Staff and Institutional Composition of the Principal Investigators
2.5	Scientific Contributions
3	Concept for the Proposed NHR Centre
3.1	Description of the Scientific Services
3.1.1	Covered Competence Areas
3.1.2	Addressed Scientific Community and Support Concept
3.1.3	Usage Concept
3.2	Links to and Embedding into the NHR Alliance
3.3	Existing Resources Which Contributes to the Tasks of the NHR Centre
3.4	Planned Investments and the Implementation Concept
3.5	Financial Plan for the Staff and Operating Costs
3.6	Overview of the Financial Plan

1	General Data About the Applying Institution/Group of Institutions

Applying university/universities:
	University:

University representative for this proposal:
	Name:
	Function:
Address for the unit of organisation:

____________________
(signature)

Corresponding person for this proposal:
	Name:
	Address:
	Telephone:
	E-Mail:

____________________
(signature)

Federal state which founds the NHR Centre (for joined applications, name all participating states):
	Federal state:

Executive Summary (English)

<Please provide a short summary about your proposal here, maximum length: 1 page. Key aspects, the general profile for the planned NHR Centre and the individual strength of your proposal should be indicated.>

Executive Summary (Deutsch)

<Please provide a German translation of your summary>

2	Presentation of the Applying Computing Facility

2.1	Principal Investigators

<Please list all Principal Investigators (PIs) who are involved in the planned NHR Centre in a table in alphabetical order. In the present context, PI means a person with a scientific contribution to the proposed concept and with responsibility for a specific service/support within the proposed NHR centre. Please state the individuals’ current position at the institution (e.g. W3, W2, or W1 professorship, independent junior research group leader, core facility leader etc.) and whether the position is permanent or temporary. >

2.2	Short Profile of the Computing Facility

<Please give a short description of all research topics related to HPC at the institution as well as typical applications which are run there. Characterise the main group of users. Explain the established governance structure to manage HPC resources.>

2.3	Description of the Existing Infrastructure

<Along with the existing hardware systems, describe all available services for users at your site and already established workshop and training formats. Please give information about staff for system administration and user support in addition.>

2.4	Staff and Institutional Composition of the Principal Investigators

<Outline the Principal Investigators’ research profiles with respect to method development and application for HPC. What (national and international) co-operations exits and how will further researchers contribute to the NHR Centre? >

2.5	Scientific Contributions

The most important scientific contributions within the last 5 years with respect to HPC competence:

<Here you can list up to 20 scientific contributions (e.g. publications, conference contributions, patents, software and libraries, administration tools, or other relevant contributions to HPC by the PIs). Please specify the title, involved PIs, a very brief description, and a reference for each contribution.>

The most important scientific projects that have been conducted at your site within the last 5 years (as long as they extend the list above):

<Here you can list up to 20 contributions, e.g. publications, conference contributions, or other relevant scientific contributions, which are results of projects which made significant use of your computing facility. The responsible researchers for these projects do not have to (but can) be part of the group of applicants. Please specify the title, involved PIs, a very brief description, and a reference for each contribution.>

Third party funding with direct connection to HPC within the last 5 years:

<Here you can list all relevant third party funding for the PIs with direct connection to HPC projects. Please specify the title, the responsible PI(s), the funding agency, as well as the funding sum.>

3	Concept for the Proposed NHR Centre

3.1	Description of the Scientific Services

<Describe here the general concept for the proposed NHR Centre e.g. by outlining the dominating hardware configuration as well as the relevant HPC topics at the planned NHR Centre. Which governance structure should be established for the administration of the centre? If the NHR Centre should consist of more than one site, explain the reasons for that.>

3.1.1	Covered Competence Areas

<Explain in detail the support actions and planned services for users including (but not limited to) training, usage monitoring, HPC-specific support in software applications. Which competence areas as identified in the call are you going to cover? Which services are already established? How does the work programme to build up the missing ones look like?>

3.1.2	Addressed Scientific Community and Support Concept

<Which scientific communities do you address with your services? What are the special HPC requirements in these research areas? Can you fully meet all these requirements with your concept? If not, how do you want to compensate for that or where do you get support for missing services, respectively? How do you want to monitor nationwide demands in your (applied) scientific field and how do you react to and manage new developments and changing requirements in the field for the next 10 years?>

3.1.3	Usage Concept

<How is access to the hardware resources and to your support services organized? How do you manage competing demands? To what extent and at which time will the centre be available as a nationwide resource? If you plan a preferential treatment for users from the supporting federal state(s), put this into the context of your chosen profile. Explain in detail how the transition to a completely nationwide opening of your system will be organised.
What kind of condition monitoring do you plan for your systems? What security concepts do you have, e.g. against (physical) access and/or for sensitive data? What is your concept for repair and replacement of broken hardware components?>

3.2	Links to and Embedding into the NHR Alliance

<Identify those of your services that can be provided beyond your local centre. Which advisory and training services are stipulated to be implemented for the whole NHR Alliance? Which governance structure do you seek for the NHR Alliance? How should the allocation of resources across all NHR Centres be organised (in terms of computing time but also with respect to the overall budget)?>

3.3	Existing Resources Which Contributes to the Tasks of the NHR Centre

<Specify which of the existing infrastructure will be part of the planned NHR Centre. This concerns hardware and relevant software as well as staff and (user) services. Which bandwidth for the network connection is available for users? When you consider contributing resources that should not be funded from the NHR budget, mark those infrastructure contributions.>

3.4	Planned Investments and the Implementation Concept

<Lay out your investment plans for the next 10 years. Which investments (e.g. which hardware architecture and which amounts, which software, enhancement of the network connection, …) do you plan? How do you justify the performance class and the amount of your investment? At which time do you plan to renew/extend the existing hardware systems? What costs do you budget for that? How flexible are you within the investment schedule and volume? Is a stepwise implementation possible/reasonable? How do you want to estimate the nationwide demand for the applications you support at your site? Which requirements does your hardware have to fulfil? Please justify these requirements on the basis of your planned profile and the scientific applications typical for computations at your site.>

3.5	Financial Plan for the Staff and Operating Costs

<Provide a general financing plan for the next 10 years. It should contain total costs for the planned NHR Centre consisting staff and operating costs (including user advice and training). Explain each position (e.g. which operating costs do you want to cover: energy, maintenance services (Does this include the building infrastructure?), …?) and justify it individually. Indicate costs that are covered by additional co-payment or third party funding. Though long term planning gets increasingly uncertain over time, try to identify to which extend you can make reliable estimations and when does the plan become more speculative.>

3.6	
Overview of the Financial Plan

Overview of annual costs1

		2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	
Existing2	Investments						
	Staff						
	Operating Costs						
	Sum						
Reguested	Investments						
	Staff						
	Operating Costs						
	Sum						
	
		2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	
Existing2	Investments						
	Staff						
	Operating Costs						
	Sum						
Reguested	Investments						
	Staff						
	Operating Costs						
	Sum						
1 Given in Mio. EUR
2 Contributions from host institution(s)