How to get help from ROAR

If you would like additional help from any of the ROAR Team then please try these options. 
To encourage open sharing of information, ROAR will prioritise responding to some communication channels over others. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, but we request that you respect our priorities. 

The ROAR Library and Online Resources

Please have a look at our online resources to make sure we haven't already answered your question(s).

The ROAR Library is continually under development. Please check back regularly and do let us know if you would like to contribute any information or resources to the shared library. 

Prioritised Communication Channels

ROAR User Group on Teams 

The ROAR User Group on Teams is a forum for our users to interact and share knowledge about experimental techniques relevant to the goals of ROAR. We also use this channel to rapidly disseminate technical information about ROAR instruments, and to highlight relevant opportunities. Imperial College members can join the user group by following the link above and then using code "pe4sm12" to join the Team. 

ROAR Open Forums 

ROAR Open Forums are advertised timeslots where a ROAR team member will be available to answer questions from any Imperial students or researchers that attend the Forum.  

ROAR Open Forums are held every Wednesday between 11.00 and 12.00. 

The meetings will be held on Microsoft Teams. Imperial College members can access our Teams group HERE and connect with us during the Forums. Please note that these meetings are conducted 'open door', and all are invited to join in the discussion. We find that many of our users have very similar questions so we hope these group sessions will help us all to learn from each other. 

Users on Active Booked Sessions in the ROAR Lab 

If you are experiencing a problem during your booked session on the ROAR equipment then please speak to a team member in person or send out a call for help on the ROAR User Group on Teams. We will aim to respond as swiftly as possible but please note that there will be times when ROAR team members are not available to respond immediately. 

If you are planning a difficult experiment and you know you will need ROAR support then please discuss it with ROAR in advance so we can ensure the necessary support is available during your session.

Book a ROAR Consultation 

If you would like to discuss your project with a member of the ROAR team then please book one of our regular consultation slots. These are booked on a first come, first served basis through Microsoft Bookings. Please provide some basic details about the ROAR equipment you want to discuss, and/or the proposed experiment so we can assign the most appropriate team member to your meeting. Click here to book a consultation. 

Commenting Within LabArchives 

If you have a question about something within LabArchives (our Electronic Laboratory Notebook for project planning) then you can use the comment function to ask ROAR specific questions. Unfortunately, there is no way to tag all ROAR team members at once so where possible please tag multiple team members. To access the comment function, hover your mouse over the section header to reveal the options. Select the 'comment' option - it looks like a speech bubble. The comment panel will appear beneath the page section.

Current ROAR team members for tagging are: @B_Deadman, @Elena_Sanna and @Chris_Roberts 

Shared Email Address 

Please contact us using roar@imperial.ac.uk instead of our personal email addresses. The shared ROAR email address is monitored by all our team members.

Book a Personal Meeting

If none of the above are suitable forms of help, then please email roar@imperial.ac.uk to request a personal meeting. Please be aware that the ROAR team is very busy daily and higher priority is given to providing help as listed above. This will usually mean that meetings will need to be booked 4-5 weeks in advance to work around our Team's existing commitments.

Direct Messages and Emails 

User requests emailed to ROAR staff personal email addresses or sent via Teams chats direct to ROAR staff are considered low priority and will only be responded to when (or if) the receiver has spare time.