Arctic Research Programme
Announcement of Opportunity: Second funding round - Call for Outline Proposals
Closing date: 16:00 on 14 October 2011
Proposals are invited for the second funding round of a major research programme on the Arctic. This £15M programme directly relates to the delivery of NERC strategy, in particular the climate systems, Earth system science, biodiversity and natural hazards science themes. This programme is accredited to Living With Environmental Change (LWEC).
The overarching aim of the programme is to improve capability to predict changes in the Arctic, particularly over timescales of months to decades, including regional impacts and the potential for feedbacks on the global Earth System. Please refer to the programme's science plan for full details of the programme.
This call is for Outline Proposals to deliver specific aspects of the science plan that were not covered by the programme's first funding round.
Up to £4.8M is expected to be available in this funding round for research projects (including any fieldwork/facility costs). The programme anticipates supporting up to three standard grants and one consortium grant.
Outline Proposals are invited to address the following three areas (the numbering refers to the topics in the Arctic programme's science plan:
A – Arctic Palaeo studies
1.6 Identifying long term biogeochemical and biodiversity changes from Arctic palaeo records
A single standard award with a budget of up to £0.7M (total cost to NERC). The proposed project could be terrestrial, freshwater, marine or any combination thereof.
B – Arctic permafrost and soils
2.3 Improving understanding of the links between biodiversity and biogeochemical processes of terrestrial permafrost and its impact on methane and carbon dioxide emissions.
2.2 Identifying key biological and physical drivers in the Arctic in the release of carbon dioxide methane within a global radiative forcing context.
(i) Carbon cycling in soils and rivers
Two standard awards, each with a budget of up to £0.9M (total cost to NERC). The proposals must have a significant biological component.
C – Hazards from submarine landslides
Objective 4 Assessing the likely risks of submarine hazards associated with rapid Arctic climate change including:
4.1 Improving understanding and geotechnical modelling of Arctic slope stability and hydrate stability.
4.2 Improving understanding and prediction of future trends in seismicity and implications for Arctic slope failure.
4.3 Developing modelling of tsunamis generated by Arctic slope failure and quantifying the probability and economic impact of tsunamis of Arctic origin with variable magnitude
Proposals could also contribute to topic 2.4, but this is not mandatory.
2.4 Improve understanding and modelling of methane emissions from sediments of shelf and upper continental slope.
A single consortium of up to £2.3M (total cost to NERC).
Submission of an Outline Proposal is mandatory in order to participate in the funding round at the full proposal stage. All Outline Proposals will be assessed by an Assessment Panel and successful applicants will be notified by the end of October that they are able to proceed to the Full Proposal stage.
The closing date for Outline Proposals is 16:00 on 14 October 2011. Outline Proposal forms must be submitted as an email attachment to:
arctic–pag@nerc.ac.uk
Please see the Announcement of Opportunity document below for full details of the call.
Announcement of Opportunity (91KB)
Outline proposal form:
For further information about this announcement of opportunity please contact:
Amy Vitale
Tel: 01793 442594