Strategic Ocean Funding Initiative (SOFI)
This page is no longer updated and is preserved for reference purposes only.
Announcement of Opportunity
Closing date: 10 October 2007, 16:00
- Introduction
- Oceans 2025 Centres
- Research areas
- Funding
- How proposals will be assessed
- Dates and timings
- Proposal submission
- Contacts
- Annex 1: Priority topics areas for SOFI
Guidance for Reviewers (126KB)
SOFI Moderating Panel Membership (25KB)
Introduction
The aim of the Strategic Ocean Funding Initiative (SOFI) is to promote wider engagement of researchers at UK universities and academic analogues with the Oceans 2025 strategic programme 2007-2012 at the NERC-funded marine centres. SOFI will focus on strategic areas that will strengthen delivery of Oceans 2025 objectives.
This engagement will be implemented through research awards and studentships, reinforced by focussed meetings and workshops in 2008-2012 to enhance synergies between SOFI-supported researchers and the Oceans 2025 community.
This is the second SOFI announcement of opportunity (AO), the first AO was through Sustainable Marine Bioresources.
Oceans 2025 Centres
- National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS)
- Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL)
- Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML)
- Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)
- Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU)
- Marine Biological Association (MBA)
- Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS).
Research areas (provided at Annex 1)
Following consultation with the Oceans 2025 directors, NERC has agreed the areas in the Oceans 2025 strategic research programme which would benefit most from collaboration with the wider marine research community, together with the most appropriate funding mechanism to deliver the research identified (standard grant, small grant or studentship).
These research areas are prescribed in recognition of the strategic nature of this initiative. Funding for research topics outside these areas should be sought through the normal NERC responsive mode funding rounds.
Funding
This funding round has a budget in the region of £4m. This is expected to support approximately 8 standard research grants at an average cost of ~£300k per award (where this is 80% of the Full Economic Cost) together with around 20 small grants and studentships. There is flexibility in these numbers, depending on the quality and quantity of the bids but please note that the number of topic areas is greater than the number of projects that we can fund. Where possible, NERC will seek to fund a selection of projects which span across Oceans 2025 themes. However, please note that your proposal should relate to just one topic area.
How proposals will be assessed
NERC will establish a Moderating Panel with an independent chairperson.
Proposals will be assessed on:
- scientific excellence
- fit to identified priority topic areas
- active contribution to Oceans 2025 delivery, with mutual benefits for participating
research groups.
Cost effectiveness and risk-reward will also be used.
Standard grants - The Moderating Panel will grade the proposals once they have been peer reviewed and after applicants have been given an opportunity to respond to comments and requests for clarification.
Small grants - The Moderating Panel will grade the proposals once they have been peer reviewed.
Studentships - The Moderating Panel will grade the proposals.
Dates and timings
The closing date for this call will be 10 October 2007 (note the 16:00 deadline on this date). There is no formal outline bid stage but applicants are strongly encouraged to have contacted the Oceans 2025 Centres by mid-September.
It is expected that the outcome of studentship applications will be known in December 2007 (to commence in October 2008), and the outcome of the small and standard grant applications to be known in late February 2008 (to commence in April 2008 at the earliest).
Proposal submission
- Applicants (as Principal Investigators, Co-Investigators or student supervisors) must be eligible for NERC funding.
- Applicants may have named involvement in one proposal only. This limit has been introduced as a measure to help manage demand and thereby maintain a suitable success level for this programme.
- Researchers who receive salary support through the Oceans 2025 strategic programme can neither receive salary funds from SOFI nor be Principal Investigator or lead supervisor on a proposal. However, they may be Co-Investigators or co-supervisors, and non-salary support (recurrent, T&S and other costs) for the Oceans 2025 Centre is possible.
- To ensure that the proposals fit to the priority topic areas and make an active contribution to Oceans 2025 delivery, it is presumed that collaboration with an Oceans 2025 centre would be advantageous.
- Applications should align with the priority topic areas detailed and the relevant topic reference number should be identified in the first paragraph of the project description.
- Proposals requiring ship time should seek to take advantage of the Oceans 2025 cruise bids already submitted and cannot involve a stand-alone cruise. Proposals should not depend on future research cruises of a speculative nature.
- This funding round is not expected to support major capital bids.
- Linkages outside a single geographic location are encouraged. Involvement of end users of this research is also desirable, where appropriate.
Proposals should be submitted via the relevant part of the (NERC) Je-S system, where the scheme should be completed as 'Directed' and the proposal call as 'SOFI'.
Specific details for standard, small and studentship applications are provided below.
- Proposals of up to three years are invited in the region of £300k
(where this is 80% of the Full Economic Cost).
- Proposals should be submitted on a Full Economic Cost (FEC) basis using
the FEC Research Grant Application form Je-SRP1 (NERC) and the Research
Councils' joint electronic submission system.
- For proposals where more than one organisation seeks financial support,
the minimum separate bid for split award arrangements is £10,000 (80%
FEC). Under such circumstances, each organisation must submit a separate
Je-SRP1 form and the lead organisation should be identified (non-lead organisations
must use the common Je-S reference provided by the lead).
For further guidance, see Research
Grants Handbook.
- Additional partnerships with public or private sector research users
(able to provide co-support, in cash or in kind) are encouraged; where
these occur, a letter of support from the partner should be provided
and additional details given in the 'Partnership' section of
the Je-SRP1 form.
- Page limits for SOFI standard grants are the same as for the responsive
mode (2 pages for track record in total, 8 pages for description of the
proposed work, and a further page for justification of resources requested).
Only the lead organisation should submit the common case for support, track
record and resource justification.
- Because there is a separate studentship competition (detailed below) SOFI standard grant applications may not include project (tied) studentships.
- SOFI small research grants are appropriate for relatively focussed projects that may be of short duration, and could include secondments or additional participation in Oceans 2025 research cruises and other fieldwork.
- Proposals should be submitted on a Full Economic Cost (FEC) basis using
the FEC Research Grant Application form Je-SRP1 (NERC) and the Research
Councils' joint electronic submission system.
- The maximum funding that may be sought is £25,000 for the total
Directly Incurred costs (100% FEC). NERC will pay 80% of these costs, as
well as 80% of the Directly Allocated and Indirect Costs applicable to the
bid.
- Small grants cannot have more than two Co-Investigators in
addition to the Principle Investigator.
- No project studentships are possible as part of a small grant proposal.
- Small grants can only provide financial support to the PI's research organisation (ie no split awards).
- Page limits for SOFI small grant applications are the same as for the responsive mode (2 pages for Track Record, 2 pages for description of the proposed work, and a further page for justification of resources). For further guidance, see Research Grants Handbook.
- Proposals should demonstrate that the training can be completed in 3-4
years (3·5 years funding). The topic should offer genuine scope for doctoral
research and innovative science. Access to good facilities, expert staff,
and training in research methods and transferable skills should be demonstrated.
The proposal should include details of supervisory contact, monitoring and
assessment procedures.
- Proposals for SOFI studentships should be made through the (NERC) Je-S
system. NERC/Studentship Proposal/Directed Research Studentship (includes
Open CASE) should be selected and 'SOFI' chosen from the drop-down
list on the project details page. Further guidance can be found on our
'How to apply' page.
- CASE studentships (involving a co-operating body, able to co-support the award) are encouraged where such arrangements are appropriate to the SOFI priority topic.
- Fieldwork costs (eg for cruise participation) should be identified in the application.
- SOFI studentship projects are expected to benefit from the greater range
of expertise and facilities provided by multi-institution supervision,
and from the wider collaborative framework of Oceans 2025 (eg involvement
in research cruises; access to multi-disciplinary datasets; and the societal/policy
context of the programme).
- A central fund will be established to support SOFI students' attendance at relevant Oceans 2025 Theme and Work Package meetings.
Contacts
Applicants are strongly encouraged to develop collaborative links with relevant Oceans 2025 centres at an early stage of proposal planning.
Initial contact can either be made through the Oceans 2025 Science Co-ordinator (p.williamson@uea.ac.uk) or via relevant Theme Leaders at Oceans 2025 centres (PDF) - centre Theme Leaders are identified in the title pages for the Oceans 2025 programme documents.
These individuals are not necessarily those who will be directly involved in proposals, as Co-Investigators or co-supervisors
To discuss NERC interests in this programme and its administration, contact Dr Helen Beadman.
Annex 1: Priority topics areas for SOFI
Topics are grouped below according to Oceans 2025 theme titles. Note that several themes are multidisciplinary; and topics may relate to more than one theme. The topic that a proposal relates to should be identified in the opening paragraph of the case for support (research grant) or project description (studentship).
References below to WPs and SOs indicate the main links to Work Packages and Sustained Observations in the Oceans 2025 programme; additional connections may be developed by proposal applicants. The online title pages for the programme documents identify Oceans 2025 contacts for each WP and SO.
Climate, ocean circulation and sea level (including polar studies)
- Measurement and analysis of additional hydrographic and chemical
variables, including in water carbonate species, on long ocean transects
in the Atlantic and Southern Ocean (standard grant;
WP 1.2, 1.3 also SO 1 (AMT))
- Microbial community composition and activity in Arctic sediments (Svalbard)
(standard grant; WP 1.6, also SO 13)
- Measurement and analysis of dissolved and particulate inorganic carbon
in the Arctic Ocean (small grant; WP 1.6 also SO 4, SO 13)
- Application of satellite geodesy to sea level science (standard grant;
WP 1.7-1.9)
- Parametrisation of detailed sea ice physics to be suitable for ocean
GCMs (studentship; WP 1.8 also WP 9.1-9.4)
- Application of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar to vertical
land movement (studentship; WP 1.9)
Marine biogeochemical cycles
- Coccolithophore gene expression profiles in chemostat culture and
microarray analysis (standard grant; WP 2.8, 2.9)
- The study of turbulent flux of nutrients across the thermocline in the
open ocean, using techniques developed for similar studies in stratified
shelf seas (small grant; WP 2.5, 2.6; potential link to WP 3.2)
- Atmospheric measurements to determine air-sea fluxes of oxygenated volatile
organic compounds (OVOCs) (studentship; WP 2.1)
- Oxygen isotope measurements to enhance production/respiration comparisons
(studentship; WP 2.1, SO 1)
- Shipboard studies of the influence of inorganic seawater chemistry
on calcareous microplankton and the biological carbon pump (studentship
WP 2.6, 2.7)
Shelf and coastal processes
- Benthic lander determination of carbon remineralisation (standard
grant; WP 3.8)
- Morphological modelling in Liverpool Bay and adjacent estuaries (studentship;
WP 3.5 also WP 9.1)
- Combining technologies to characterise suspended particulate material (studentship; WP 3.4)
Marine biodiversity and ecosystem function
- Microbial interactions with micro- and macro-algae (standard grant;
WP 4.5)
- Data sharing, data synthesis and combined analysis initiatives to extend
the spatial and temporal scale of marine biodiversity research (small
grant; WP 4.1-4.7)
Continental margins and deep ocean
- Transformation of bioessential molecules (such as lipids, proteins
and carotenoid pigments) as they sink from the euphotic zone to the abyssal
seafloor (standard grant; WP 5.7, 5.8)
- Application of molecular biology approaches to deep sea biogeochemistry
(studentship; WP 5.7, 5.8)
- Modelling tsunamis from reconstructed landslide scenarios (studentship;
WP 5.2)
- Geotechnical studies on gas hydrates and slope stability (studentship;
WP 5.4)
Sustainable marine resources
Note that biological aspects of this theme are also covered by the Sustainable Marine Resources directed programme.
- Quantitative assessment of key ecosystem services for inclusion
in marine spatial planning (standard grant; WP 6.1- 6.11)
- Analysis of marine policy drivers to enhance decision-support mechanisms
(studentship; WP 6.4)
- Impact of coastal and offshore engineering structures, including
renewable energy devices (studentship; WP 6.1 – 6.11)
Marine technology development
- Development of automatic fault detection and intervention strategies
to enhance reliability for autonomous marine instrumentation (standard
grant; WP 8.1 – 8.9)
Ocean prediction
- Unstructured adaptive grid modelling, including comparison with structured grid models (standard grant; WP 9.2, 9.8)
- Interannual to decadal predictability and prediction using coupled climate models (studentship: WP 9.9, also WP 1.4 and SO9)
- Using plankton ecosystem models to drive models of higher trophic levels (studentship; WP 9.5-9.7, 9.11)
- Improved parameterisation of the role of food quality in zooplankton grazing (small grant; WP 9.5, 9.6, 9.10 and 9.11)
- Improved models of mixing processes for vertical structure in tidally-active
shelf seas (studentship; 9.1-9.3)
Sustained observations in the marine environment
Several of the topics already identified above also have links with this theme.
- Model-based study of causes of overflow variability across the Wyville
Thompson Ridge (standard grant; SO 4)
- Exploitation of Liverpool Bay coastal observatory data for ecosystem
dynamics studies, especially nutrients up to secondary production. (studentship;
SO 11)
- Zooplankton migratory behaviour at the Svalbard time series site (small
grant; SO 13)
- Using intertidal monitoring data to model responses to climate change
(small grant; SO 10 also WP 4.7)
- Measuring the distribution and abundance of marine mammals (studentship,
SO14)
- Novel approaches to statistical analyses of Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) data (studentship, SO 15)
About the programme
External links
- Oceans 2025 website
- National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
- Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory
- Plymouth Marine Laboratory
- Scottish Association for Marine Science
- Sea Mammal Research Unit
- Marine Biological Association
- Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science
Joint electronic-Submission (Je-S)