EC Horizon 2020 call: greening the economy. Apply now, closes 7 Mar 17.

The European Commission invites proposals for its H2020-SC5-2017 Greening the economy – single stage call which closes 7 Mar 17.

Proposals may address the following topics:

  • climate services, including SC5-01-2017 exploiting the added value of climate services, SC5-02-2017 integrated European regional modelling and climate prediction system and SC5-04-2017 towards a robust and comprehensive greenhouse gas verification system
  • towards a low-carbon Europe, including SC5-06-2016 pathways towards the decarbonisation and resilience of the European economy in the timeframe 2030-2015 and beyond
  • raw materials, including SC5-13-2017 new solutions for sustainable production of raw materials
  • earth observation, including SC5-18-2017 novel in-sit observation systems
  • nature-based solutions for territorial resilience, including SC5-32-2017 biodiversity scenarios
  • water, including SC5-33-2017 closing the water gap

The indicative budget for this call is €124 million. See the H2020 Participant Portal: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/index.html, under the ‘Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials’ work programme (Societal Challenges Pillar).

Want to hold a meeting to put a bid together – contact us! We have funds to assist.

EPSRC call for feasibility studies in energy – closes 5 Jan 17

Up to £3m is available for this call, with a cap of £200k for each proposal. Proposals should examine a topic within EPSRC’s Energy remit (e.g. Bioenergy), review past and current activity, and identify key research challenges that need to be addressed. The proposed research must be novel, innovative, have the potential to lead to high impact outcomes and strengthen the UK’s position in within the international energy community. Submissions towards this call must also demonstrate collaborations with established energy groups/organisations (academia, industry, non-governmental organisations, Government etc.) who are willing to support the research proposal and provide a potential route for exploitation. More information can be found on their website.

£17M Announced to Support Industrial Biotechnology – IB Catalyst Round 4 results published

The BBSRC have announced that sixteen projects have received a share of £17M to bring innovative biotechnology concepts to market. These projects have been funded under Round 4 of the Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst and they focus on a wide range of products from creating new drugs from bacteria, to increasing yields in the production of platform sugars from municipal solid wastes (MSW). The IB Catalyst has invested over £75M in four rounds and has helped create jobs, drive new technologies and promote academic and industrial collaborations to translate research into commercial reality. More information can be found in the complete BBSRC press release here.

Round 4 of the Energy Catalyst Now Open

We have not yet heard any further news on the next round of Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst award (see our news here), but Round 4 of the Energy Catalyst is now open. In most cases, Anaerobic Digestion is not applicable to the Energy Catalyst, but proposed solutions can focus on any part of the energy trilemma. Eligibility criteria and further information can be found here.

Note that registration for mid- and late-stage awards closes on 8 Jun 16, with the early-stage award deadline being 7 Sep 16.

Funding Opportunities: Spending review announces Global Challenges Research Fund

AD Network members may be interested in a new £1.5 bnGlobal Challenges fund announced in the latest spending review (pages 35 & 54). The fund is allocated over the next 5 years to ensure that UK science takes a leading role in addressing the problems faced by developing countries whilst developing our ability to delivery cutting-edge research.

The exact nature of the funding streams has not been defined, but it is clear that there will be opportunities for UK industrial biotechnology and bioenergy (IBBE) expertise to be applied to these challenges. We will keep you updated with any developments.

Do you want to learn a new skill or technique? Secondment grants up to £3000 available

If you are a researcher interested in learning a new skill or technique, we have funds available to help you. We can provide secondment grants of up to £2000 (UK) or £3000 (overseas), enabling you to visit another academic institution or organisation and learn those skills that are vital to your research. Contact us now for more information.

Updates from all the NIBB Networks

All the activities from all the BBSRC Networks in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy (NIBB) have now been collated. This information includes all the Business Interaction Vouchers and Proof of Concept grants awarded by all the Networks thus far, as well as a number of interesting statistics. Download this information at the BBSRC NIBB website here.

Joint FAPESP-BBSRC call: Integrated Biorefinery Approaches for the Manufacture of Advanced Biofuels

The BBSRC has launced this joint call for collaborative proposals in Integrated Biorefinery Approaches for the Manufacture of Advanced Biofuels. More information here: BBSRC FAPESP Advanced biofuels or from the website: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/funding/opportunities/2015/joint-fapesp-advanced-biofuels/