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Technology Proof of Concept

Call for Proposals

Closing date: 16:00 on 24 March 2009

Summary

The Technology Proof of Concept programme is a new five-year NERC research programme that will support the development of new and innovative technologies for environmental science. The programme will have three funding rounds during the five-years of the programme and will provide funding for proof of concept projects at Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 1 to 4. This Announcement of Opportunity invites proposals for the programme's first grant round - for which up to £3m of funding is available with funding for individual projects limited to £250k (where this is 80% of Full Economic Cost).

Background

NERC's Strategy 'Next Generation Science for Planet Earth' identifies technology development as one of the key areas NERC needs to support in order to deliver the aims and objectives of the strategy. To reflect this NERC's strategy includes a dedicated Technologies Theme and an associated Theme Action Plan. One of the actions from the first Technologies Theme Action Plan is a research programme to fund the development of new and innovative technology concepts with potential applications to environmental science.

The rationale behind enhancing such activity is that it fosters a dynamic and vibrant research base within both HEIs and NERC Research and Collaborative Centres where high risk - high reward technologies can be developed. This programme will sit at the heart of the NERC Technologies Theme over its five-year period and operate as an enabling mechanism for delivering new technologies. This programme is a high priority in terms of timeliness within the Technologies Theme being applicable to a wide community and with substantial potential to deliver innovation in short timescales.

Remit of the Call

This Announcement of Opportunity calls for proposals to develop new and innovative technologies for environmental sciences, providing that they are at the proof of concept stage (TRLs 1 to 4). A broad range of activities is considered suitable for this call - from paper studies to laboratory experiments - and all projects will be required to clearly demonstrate a potential application to environmental science that will result in a significant advance in the field, for example by enabling the measurements of new parameters or providing higher resolution datasets. A list of the environmental science topics that are within NERC's remit is available.

This round has two parts: an open call and a directed call. All proposals submitted to the open and directed calls must meet the requirements outlined above. In addition, proposals to the directed call are restricted to projects that will support the development of novel laboratory instrumentation - see below for further details. The closing date for the two calls is the same, and applications to both calls will be subject to the same assessment process.

For this funding round, £1m is available for the open call and up to £2m is available for the directed call for novel lab instrumentation projects. Projects in the programme will be limited to a maximum cost per project of £250k (where this is 80% Full Economic Cost); the average project however is expected to be of the order of £80k - £100k (80% FEC). There is no fixed duration for projects and it is expected that projects may vary in length from a few months to two years.

Directed call: Novel Laboratory Instrumentation

This directed call seeks to stimulate new technological development of novel laboratory approaches for the measurement of environmental physical and chemical parameters. The specific technologies supported will be targeted at environmental processes where improved information would reduce uncertainty in models and predictions. An important secondary aim will be to foster better, more dynamic two-way links between laboratory scientists studying processes at the most fundamental levels, and Earth system scientists using large ensembles of such information as building blocks.

Application Procedure

Eligibility to apply for this funding is restricted to individuals eligible to apply for NERC grants. While it is expected that projects will be led by a HEI or NERC Research and Collaborative Centres, private sector company and/or public sector organisation involvement as project partners is strongly encouraged where it is appropriate.

Submission of applications will be via Je-S (the scheme is 'Directed' and the call is 'Technology Proof of Concept 2009') and will utilize the standard grants proforma. Guidance on the application process, including details of eligible costs, is available in the Research Grants Handbook. NERC's normal grant terms and conditions will apply, and these are also outlined in the handbook. The closing date for applications is 16:00 on 24 March 2009.

In addition to the standard grants proforma, applicants will also be expected to provide a case for support detailing the work to be undertaken. The case for support will be a maximum of 5 pages in length and will:

• detail the potential scientific application of the technology
• outline the technical approach of the proposed project
• include a project management plan

In addition, a track record of the applicant(s), up to two pages in length, and a one-page justification of resources are also required.

All intellectual property arising from the project will be subject to the same conditions as NERC standard research grants (as detailed in the NERC Research Grants Handbook). Where these proposals are collaborative, ownership of any intellectual property will have to be agreed and clearly set out in a collaboration agreement prior to any work commencing. Any award offer will be conditional upon NERC receiving a copy of a fully signed collaboration agreement between the partners within three months of the issue of an award letter and in advance of a project starting.

Assessment Procedure

As with NERC's responsive mode schemes, the main assessment criteria will be the scientific and technological excellence of the proposal which takes into consideration the novelty and uniqueness of the technology, and the potential application of the idea to environmental science. As NERC is seeking to support the early development of cutting-edge technologies it is expected that the development of these technologies will have an element of risk. This will be offset by the feasibility of the technical approach and the project management plan. Other factors, such as cost effectiveness and the strength of the team, will also be taken into consideration by the selection panel.

Proposals will not be sent out for external peer review, therefore there will be no opportunity for the Principal Investigator to respond to reviewers' comments (NERC reserves the right to send proposals to external peer review if this is deemed necessary to ensure that an informed funding decision can be made). After the grant round is completed, feedback will be available upon request.

Contact details

For queries related to the remit of the technology proof of concept scheme please contact either:

Adele Gardner
Tel: 01793 411736

Ruth Kelman
Tel: 01793 411558

For queries related to the Je-S system, please contact the Je-S helpdesk:

JeSHelp@rcuk.ac.uk
Tel: 01793 444164
 

Assessment criteria

The main assessment criteria will be the scientific and technological excellence of the proposal. The definitions of the excellence grades as given in the table below.