Road map for projects at CIR

First step

• Formulate an idea - Formulate and idea from your previous research, or gaps i knowledge in your field.
• Research relevant literature - Search the literature for what has been done and what imaging experiments can produce new knowledge.
• Develop research question compatible for imaging - Imaging at CIR can be used for a wide variety of research questions. Reach out to CIR or staff at the different imaging facilities to get expert advice on how to best approach your research topic with imaging tools.

Initiate project

• Form a team - It is useful to early on plan who will be responsible for the different parts of a project. This is a required part of registering a new project with CIR. Depending on scope of project and experience within a research group, different levels of involvement and support from CIR may be needed and must be clarified before initiating a project.
• Register project - Register a new project with CIR. It is the responsibility of the projects Principal Investigator (PI) that the registration is correct and complete.
• Facility access and training - Some imaging facilities can be "self-use" by researchers or students for data collection after training. Make sure the researchers intended for this sign up for a drivers license course and register for door access as needed. Scheduling of core facilities at KI is done in iLab - apply for access to be able to check availability and book facilities yourself.
• Data access - SPICE
• Develop experiment - Any experimental conditions you plan, e.g. sensory stimulation (presenting images or sounds) or auxiliary measurements (eye-tracking, skin conductance, etc.) take time to develop, calibrate and test. Usually experiments are run using PsychoPy, Matlab or NeuroObs Presentation. General experimental paradigms are available and can often be easily modified. CIR or imaging facility staff can support you in setting up and test your experiments but the ultimate responsibility lays with the individual researcher. It is good practice to document and share experimental paradigms (e.g. on github and the CIR-wiki pages) to ensure your experiment is transparent and reproducible.
• Technical piloting - A project involving development of new methods (e.g. custom MEG sensor arrays or MRI-sequences) may require involvement of CIR or imaging facility staff for technical developments. Schedule this part of your project together with the parties concerned.
• Pilot experiment/protocol - A lot of pieces tend to fall into place during pilot measurements. When possible - pilot early and account for time to modify your protocol and experiment based on lessons learned from piloting.
• Ethical approval - It is the responsibility of the project’s PI to ensure that ethical approval has been granted for the project, as specified in the user agreement, and that it is adhered to throughout the project. CIR and imaging core facility staff can provide support in describing the general risks and benefits of the different imaging modalities and methodologies used.

Execute project

• Finalize experiment - Finalize you experiment/protocol based on experience from piloting and feedback from the ethical committee.
• Archive pilot data and related documentation
• Schedule lab time for measurements*
• Perform measurements

After data collection

• Organize data in project folder*
• Archive data
• Analyse data*
• Write manuscript*