HOAHub Scope
Summary only. The HOAHub Terms of Reference (V6)
is the authoritative version.
Before applying, please check your study fits within the HOAHub scope.
- Studies in HOAHub should focus on Human Organs.
- There is no restriction on types of human organs.
- Animal organs may be included for validation, comparison, or other scientific or biomedical reasons, but must comprise a minority of the scan time.
- Studies in HOAHub should ideally be hierarchical in nature (e.g. large whole organ scans with localised zooms) to take advantage of HiP-CT technology.
- Studies should aim at adding greatest benefits to HOAHub (e.g. adding data to Human Organ Atlas, making the whole of consortium greater than sum of the parts).
- Primary samples need to be greater than ca. 3cm in all dimensions. (Biopsy or small portions for zooms can be included for hierarchical studies, but must comprise a minority of the scan time. (Note, smaller samples may be scanned at other beamlines, e.g. SLS TOMCAT, DLS I13, APS 2-BM, or responsive mode proposals to ESRF BM05).
- Studies involving significant developments such as dynamic imaging such as flow, mechanics and electrical should be done via responsive or LTP modes, and only considered for the HOAHub once more established.
Not sure whether your study is in scope? Discuss it with a HOAHub Member before applying, or email hoahubesrf@gmail.com.
Overall Governance
Summary only. The HOAHub Terms of Reference (V6)
is the authoritative version.
HOAHub is run by a small Executive Committee (EC), which provides an agile decision-making core, with scientific and technical input from the wider membership through the Members’ Committee (MC). An independent Steering Committee (SC) oversees the Hub’s performance. The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) acts as Observer, providing factual information but not participating in governance through voting.
The Hub is supported by a beamline scientist and part-time organ technician, optics technician, algorithms developer and data engineer at ESRF, currently funded by a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative–UCL–ESRF–University Hospital Aachen grant. The HOAHub Director coordinates scientific activity agreed by the Members’ and Executive Committees, supported by a CZI-funded Postdoctoral Research Fellow at ESRF and a Project Manager.

Full definitions of each committee and role are in the Terms of Reference.
Policies and Documents
Policies and Documents
Current versions of all HOAHub documents. Please check you are using the version
listed here before applying for beamtime or preparing a publication.
- Terms of Reference [PDF] — How HOAHub is governed: membership,
committees and roles, beamtime allocation, and the conditions attached to membership.
V6, issued July 2026. - Application and Peer Review Process Guidelines [PDF] — How proposals
are submitted, assessed and ranked, and the criteria reviewers apply.
V5, issued July 2026. - Proposal Form [DOCX] — The application form for Biomedical Challenge
(BC) and Feasibility (FT) beamtime. V6, issued July 2026. - Guidelines for Use of HOAHub and HiP-CT Data [PDF] — Conditions for
using unpublished HOAHub data: confidentiality, open access, intellectual property, and
how to request a dataset DOI ahead of publication. Formerly the HOAHub Data Sharing
Agreement. V3, issued July 2026. - Guidelines on Publication Authorship [PDF] — Who should be named as
an author on papers using HOAHub data, guidance on ESRF staff and Local Contacts, and
standard acknowledgement wording. V2, issued July 2026. - HOAHub Sample Shipment Rules [PDF] — Deadlines and information
required for shipping samples to ESRF once beamtime is scheduled.
V2, issued June 2026.
Close