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UK IODP

Announcement of Opportunity for Small Grants & Site Survey Investigations (SSIs)

Closing date: 14 March 2008

To support UK membership in the international Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), NERC runs a UK Research Programme to enable: (1) UK scientists to ensure that IODP carries out the best and highest priority science, (2) UK scientists to participate in and obtain material from drilling legs, and (3) UK scientists to capitalise on the results of IODP drilling and UK technologies, allowing them to benefit from technological advances in deep sea drilling.

In this Announcement of Opportunity funding applications are sought under three headings:

  1. Outline Bids for Ship-Borne Site Survey Investigations
  2. Full proposals for 'Virtual' Site Surveys
  3. Full proposals for IODP Small Grants

Any proposed project will be expected to build on existing research efforts within IODP and expected outputs should include high profile scientific paper(s) and/or further proposals.

Site surveys

The success of IODP depends on the development of drilling proposals. In order to be successful, a drilling proposal should have outstanding science objectives and it is also imperative that the geology of the drill site is sufficiently well known to demonstrate that the objectives are feasible, and that the drilling will be safe. The latter two requirements depend on the availability of adequate site surveys, which usually include crossing seismic reflection lines and a range of geology specific additional observations. UK IODP has allocated funding towards Site Survey Investigations for the collection/interpretation of geological data in support of UK-led drilling proposals. For further information on the IODP Science Programme and drilling proposals see the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (international) and the Site Survey Data Bank websites.

The total funding available under this round is a £0·6m for categories B and C (this being NERC's 80% contribution to full economic costs, and including indexation). The funding available for category A will be confirmed once outline bids have been considered. Applicants should contact Sasha Leigh for details.

A: Outline Bids for Ship-Borne Site Survey Investigations

UK-IODP expects to have funds available to support ship-borne site-surveys under the second half of the program 2008-2013. This call component is for Outline Bids from the UK Science community for such Site Survey Investigations. Proponent(s) must have either submitted a drilling proposal to IODP or formulated a potential drilling proposal (to be submitted) before an award will be made by NERC. Proposals are welcomed for all types of site survey, including Mission Specific Platforms.

PIs should consider international and/or industrial partnerships and plans to maximise synergies with relevant international projects and programmes (such as ECORD) as well as with ongoing UK research in both the drilling proposal and in making the case for a site survey.

Modest funding is available for meetings to plan full proposals. For details, please email Heather Stewart in advance of any such meeting.

Applicants are strongly advised to consult NERC's marine planning pages prior to making an outline application for information on the procedure for obtaining shiptime and the likely schedule of the NERC research vessels through to 2010. Also, of relevance may be the European vessels' schedules and operations. Contact should be made with Helen Beadman concerning this aspect of the application.

Applicants are also advised to consult the general guidance for Site Survey requirements: Site Survey GuideIODP SSI Matrix

The deadline date for submission of an outline bid is 14 March 2008 with invited full bids anticipated to be required by 15 May 2008. Outline proposals and full proposals must be submitted electronically using the Research Councils Joint electronic-Submission (Je-S) system.

For outlines the FEC Outline Proposal Form ( Je-SOP1 (NERC) ) should be used. At the outline proposal stage, only the lead institution should submit a form which should summarise the applicants and resources required for all institutions in the collaborative proposal. A case for support of no more than 3 pages with a clear programme of work in addition to a CV for the Principal Investigator (PI) should be attached.

NERC will inform individuals whether outlines are suitable for development as full proposals by mid-April 2008.

Potential applicants should note that information provided on the Outline Proposal form may be made available by NERC to other applicants to this IODP Round, where the Outline Proposal review panel request that full bids involve mergers or other collaborations involving more than one bid. Information may also be provided to Principal Investigators of previous rounds, where the panel suggest that this will help to maximise synergies with funded projects.

B: Full proposals for 'Virtual' Site Surveys

UK-IODP, in partnership with the Industrial Liaison Panel (ILP), aims to strengthen its links with industry, particularly in data exploitation, mission goals and technology development, where there are joint objectives and mutually-beneficial targets. In order to realise this goal, joint academia-industry proposals are invited which aim to use existing industrial seismic reflection data for 'virtual' site surveys. It is expected these would be worked up into a full IODP drilling proposal by an academic with the relevant expertise, in collaboration with an appropriate representative from industry, or with a group of representatives from companies who make the data available and who are interested in the research outcome. Thus the suitability and accessibility of the site proposed will be demonstrated in relation to the scientific objective of the IODP drilling proposal.

'Virtual' Site Surveys aim to reduce the need for new ship-based surveys on drilling sites that require evaluation before they can proceed through the IODP system. Joint academia-industry projects, involving a mutual science objective, assess the suitability of the proposed site using previously collected industrial data. It is hoped that this approach will be a cost-effective way of rapidly enabling UK-based researchers to develop drilling proposals without the financial and time constraints, of scheduling offshore fieldwork. The existence all types of high-resolution data (in particular 3-D seismic data) in support of SSIs can be very important, not only for safety reasons but also for significantly enhancing the scientific objectives of the proposal. For these reasons the Steering Committee is able to accept directly full proposals under this Announcement of Opportunity.

Applicants are free to determine how original contacts are made, industrial academia partnerships formed and ideas/proposals generated. UK-IODP welcomes proposals for virtual site surveys from all existing or new academia/industrial partnerships. Heather Stewart will consider modest applications for support for workshops to initiate the development of individual proposals.

It is envisaged that 'virtual' site survey funding will support an academic PDRA, or industrialist on secondment to a university, to work up the data under the direction of the PI and in collaboration with the industrial partners.

'Virtual' Site Survey applications should comply with the guidelines for NERC Standard Grants (eg in terms of page limits, documents required, funding etc). Proposals should include a clear programme of work.

C: Full proposals for IODP Small Grants

Proposals are invited for small grants addressing IODP aims and objectives. Small grants provide funding for small discrete projects, proof-of-concept studies, pump-priming exercises etc. This scheme is not intended to extend research assistants' employment once a standard grant has ended.

Up to £25,000 may be sought for the total directly incurred costs (ie the limit applies to 100% of costs under this heading). In addition, NERC will pay the standard proportion (80%) of directly allocated and indirect costs.

Essential information for applicants please see the Research grants pages. All normal small grant rules and guidelines apply regarding page limits, eligibility etc. Proposals will be reviewed by external referees and assessed by the UK IODP steering committee in August 2008.

How to apply

The closing date for full proposals for small grants and 'virtual' site surveys and outline bids for ship-borne site surveys is 16:00 on Friday 14 March 2008.

Proposals should be submitted at full economic cost via the Research Councils' Joint electronic-Submission system (Je-S). The 'scheme' should be completed as 'Directed FEC' and the 'call' as 'IODP'.

See the Je-S website for information on the Je-S process. Further information, including details on Full Economic Costing, is also available in the NERC Research Grants Handbook for Full Economic Cost Grants. Potential applicants are reminded that they and their institution must be registered with Je-S, in order to submit applications.

Standard NERC rules for institutional and investigator eligibility apply to all components of the call. For example, submissions must be made via UK universities or NERC-recognised bodies. For full proposals, an individual may only be lead Principal Investigator on one proposal, plus be involved in one further proposal as Co-Investigator (or be involved in two proposals as Co-Investigator). However, at the outline proposal stage, there will be no limit to the number of times an individual can be identified as a Co-Investigator, Recognised Researcher, or Project Partner. Linkages with research users and other non-academic organisations (as Project Partners) are encouraged.

The outcome of the assessment of full proposals should be known in August 2008; 1 September 2008 is therefore the earliest start-date for projects (later if appointment processes are involved). This start date applies to categories B and C.

Scientific queries regarding this Announcement of Opportunity should be directed to the Programme Science Co-ordinator, Dayton Dove.

Advice on application and administrative arrangements is available from the Programme Administrator, Sasha Leigh.

Any queries regarding the Je-S system and submission of applications should be directed to the dedicated Je-S Helpdesk.

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