The Call for Proposals for Production Access to High Performance Computing (HPC) Resources is designed to allow researchers and scientists from academia, industry, and public sector to apply for time on the HPC system “Cyclone” hosted at the HPC Facility (HPCF) of The Cyprus Institute (CyI).
Production Access is intended for production-ready projects where a significant amount of computing resources is required.
Production Access to Cyclone resources is meant to be used for open R&D purposes and is free of charge, provided that the eligibility criteria are fulfilled.
Submissions start date |
August 1st, 2024 |
Submissions deadline |
September 15th, 2024 |
System Access start date |
November 1st, 2024 |
System Access cut off date |
October 31th, 2025 |
Submission of Final Reports |
Within two (2) months after the completion of the project |
The Cyclone HPC System is a hybrid CPU and GPU system with a theoretical peak performance of ⁓600 TFlop/s. All nodes are equipped with two Intel Xeon Gold 6248 CPUs and 192GB of memory. The available GPUs are NVIDIA Tesla V100-SXM2 with 32GB each.
The available resources on the Cyclone HPC system for this call are:
2,000,000 CPU core hours.
180,000 GPU hours.
At least 80% of the total resources will be allocated to projects aligned with Cyprus' Smart Specialization Strategy. The remaining 20% of the total resources will be allocated for all other projects.
Scientists and researchers from academia, industry and the public sector can apply for access to Cyclone resources provided that they satisfy the specific criteria listed below:
The academic or research organization, company, or public sector organization is established in Cyprus; AND
The Principal Investigator (PI) has an employment contract with the corresponding organization at the time of proposal submission, which will be valid for the duration of the research project and for at least three (3) months after the end of the allocation period; AND
The access is devoted solely for open R&D purposes.
Collaboration among Cypriot organizations (academia, research, industry, or public sector) and similar organizations in countries from the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) region is supported if the PI is affiliated with a Cyprus-based organization.
The PI of an application must submit only one proposal per Production Access call.
Applicants who have not previously utilized HPC resources and anticipate the need for training in its usage should contact the EuroCC2 Cyprus team via email at hpc.help@cyi.ac.cy.
Projects not covered under the Production Access Call:
Proposals for code testing and optimization are outside the scope of the Production Access call. Instead, such proposals may be submitted under Preparatory Access.
Access to HPC resources for commercial purposes is outside the scope of the Production Access call. They may be supported in a billable or subsidized way (e.g., through EuroCC2, DiGiNN, and other digital transformation projects).
This Production Access call offers two distinctive application tracks:
The Scientific Track
This track targets applications from academia, research, and public organizations. Proposals must demonstrate scientific excellence, novelty, and impact. The proposal should show the potential of achieving results that could be published in high-impact peer-reviewed scientific journals and conferences.
The Industry Track
This track targets applications from industry if the proposed projects are for open R&D purposes. PIs are strongly encouraged to also involve collaborators from academia in such proposals. The proposals submitted to this track will undergo the same review process as those submitted to the Scientific Track but with an emphasis on innovation and societal impact. The proposal should commit that the results and software developed will be open to the public after the project’s completion.
All proposals must be submitted using the online tool found HERE. Please first register or log in to the online tool to gain access to the application form and begin to fill it out.
A successful proposal application entails completing 1) the online application form, and 2) uploading the 'Project Detailed Description' document in PDF format in the specified section of the online application form. Proposals lacking this document will be rejected.
Please note that the 'Project Detailed Description' document should follow all the stated requirements regarding format, structure, and content. Deviations from those requirements will lead to the rejection of the proposal without peer review.
All proposals must be submitted electronically in English, and the PI is responsible for the accuracy of the data provided in the application. We strongly advise applicants to read the 'Guidelines for Applicants' before completing the online application form.
All eligible proposals for Production Access will undergo a thorough review process in terms of both the proposal’s scientific/innovation merit and the justification for the requested Cyclone resources.
The review will be conducted by experts in the broader field of the proposal and by CyI HPC staff.
The reviews can recommend an increase or decrease in the requested amount of HPC time. Proposals with excessive computational requests may receive significantly lower allocations. The magnitude of any earlier allocations (from previous HPC Production Calls) will also be considered, if applicable. Thus, applicants are strongly encouraged to request an amount of CPU/GPU resources that is appropriate for the computational needs of their project, as this is one of the evaluation criteria.
The reviews can recommend an increase or decrease in the requested amount of HPC time. Applicants are strongly encouraged to request an amount of CPU/GPU resources that is appropriate for the computational needs of their project, as this is one of the evaluation criteria.
The Cyprus Institute’s Program Advisory Committee will finalize the selection process, considering both the review recommendations and the 80% allocation for projects that align with Cyprus' Smart Specialization Strategy.
Applicants will receive a consolidated review report at the end of the process.
For all awarded projects, the PI will have to:
Submit a Final Report within two months of the completion of an allocation, using the proper template (which will be sent to applicants prior to the end of their project’s allocation period). The report should summarize the results obtained through this project.
Acknowledge the HPC resources used in all publications resulting from this project.
For any queries relevant to the applications, kindly contact: hpc.help@cyi.ac.cy with email subject: "Call for Proposals for Production Access to CyI HPC Resources".
For further details, see the 'Guidelines for Applicants' document.