Here, you will find detailed information on batch sizes, costs, and lead times for consultancy requests. We aim to provide transparent and comprehensive insights to help you plan and manage your projects efficiently.
Consultancy analyses are undertaken by trained laboratory staff, who have accumulated many years of experience. We do not generally allow external users (even those from within QMUL) to operate instrumentation, with a few exceptions.
It is advisable to contact the laboratory as soon as you know you are going to require analysis, especially for time dependent projects. Ideally this should be at least 2 weeks prior to submitting your samples, however we will always accommodate you if we can.
Depending on the batch size, we aim to report data within 20 working days of receiving your samples. Please feel free to send us a follow up email if you haven’t heard anything after this time has elapsed. For large batch sizes, reporting times may be extended, especially during busy times of the year, however we will usually be able to estimate delays at the point of sample receipt.
We will always try to work to your time frames; however for urgent work needed by a specific date it is very important you inform us of this when you contact us. We cannot guarantee to complete work at very short notice.
For some instrumentation we have a minimum batch size. Even analysis of a single sample requires a full calibration on most instrumentation and so the cost vs benefit must be weighed up by ourselves before we accept your samples. If you have a small number of samples (<10), please make this clear when you contact us and we can discuss options with you. We will often be able to accommodate you by incorporating your samples into a larger run, but there may be a small additional wait for this.
Following contact with us we will send any required paperwork which must then be returned via email prior to sample submission. Once we receive your paperwork, if we believe we can undertake your analysis we will send a quotation for the work. Costs vary depending on the specific nature of sample batches and instrumentation; our costs also vary according to whether you are internal or external to QMUL.