Pricing & Policies

As Microscopy Australia is a consortium of university-based facilities, most instrument fees are set locally and published online.

Our fee structure

Fees for federally funded instruments and their dedicated engineers are subsidised for Australian publicly funded researchers: typically in the range of $40–60/hr. To find the relevant technique and facility, we invite researchers to use TechFi®: our online technique finder.

INSTRUMENT USER FEE RANGE
NCRIS Instrument External from industry
Commercial rates as determined by the Facility Director
Internal
A subsidized rate that is affordable with typical Australian research grants
external non-industry*
$40-60/per beam-hour or the rate for internal users, if that is higher
OTHER INSTRUMENT External from industry
Commercial rates as determined by the Facility Director
Internal At discrEtion of the facility director
external non-industry*
A rate that is affordable with typical Australian research grants
This pricing guide excludes arrangements with institutions under MOU or other mechanisms of collaboration or agreements that require different fee structure (e.g. ARC or LIEF collaborations) * e.g. University; publicly funded; medical research organisation; CRC; etc.

See the host facility’s web page for a full list of staff and instrument fees relevant to your project.

  • Grants and subsidies

    Academics and publicly funded researchers

    Please see our ‘Grant Advice’ page for advice on applying for ARC and NHMRC grants

    Grant Advice

    Commercial clients

    Please see our industry subsidies page for details

    Industry Subsidies

  • How long will microscopy take?

    Time guide per sample for different techniques*

    • Transmission electron microscopy: 3–20 hours
    • Scanning electron microscopy: 0.5–4 hours
    • X-ray diffraction: 1–24 hours
    • Confocal or atomic force microscopy: 3–20 hours
    • X-ray microtomography: 1–15 hours
    • Atom probe tomography: 6–12 hours

    *These are conservative estimates

    A timeline is negotiated according to the requirements of the job, availability of specialised staff and readiness of samples. For commercial clients, simple testing services can usually be scheduled within two weeks and urgent jobs can usually be accommodated. Some instruments have extended lead times due to their uniqueness within Australia and the nature of the experiments performed on them.

  • Open Access Policy

    Microscopy Australia has an open access policy, ensuring access to instruments is based on merit, not institution.

    Our open access policy ensures access for all Australian researchers to federally-funded (NCRIS) instruments that in the past would only have been available to researchers based at the instrument’s host institution. All Microscopy Australia facilities have agreed to make not just NCRIS-funded instruments, but all of their microscopy and microanalytical tools available under this policy.

    For more detail please download our Open Access Policy (PDF).

    Open Access Policy

Academic Industry