Deadline- 23 January 2013
UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) offers funding for The Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) research programme having three main researching themes these are-
- Sustainable, ecosystem-based pathways out of poverty
- Ecosystem services and the urban environment
- Building on ESPA success
The ESPA 2013 call has been designed to enhance the academic and development impact of the ESPA programme by filling significant gaps in the ESPA portfolio and, where possible, capturing emerging opportunities. The call provides an opportunity for the world’s best researchers to add significant value to the ESPA programme by filling important research, knowledge and evidence gaps that have been identified.
There is a budget of up £4m available for this call, for grants in the range of £200,000 to £500,000. Projects will be funded for a maximum duration of between 24 and 30 months.
Eligibility & Criteria–
- There are no other restrictions on where researchers are located or their nationality. Similarly, there are no geographic restrictions on where research institutions are based, as long as they meet the administrative eligibility requirements for funding.
- Projects will be required to consider the relevant range of the (multiple) dimensions of poverty and of multiple ecosystem services to ensure that the solutions are sustainable over the medium term (decades). Choices about which dimensions to consider must take account of relevant environmental, demographic, technological and societal changes.
- Projects must work at relevant scales, which will be set in each context by the drivers of poverty (including relevant institutions and socio-political drivers) and ecosystem service management.
- ESPA research needs to consider the use of all kinds of knowledge: local, indigenous and scientific. Applicants should consider their respective strengths, weaknesses, overlaps and contradictions when developing their proposals for ESPA-2013 projects.
- Proposals will need to describe what their projects will do (if funded) to ensure that poor people living in low-income countries benefit from their research as part of their Case for Support and Pathway to Impact statement.
How to apply?
- The first stage of the application process will be a short Outline Proposal which will be assessed internally on the basis of potential to contribute to the overall scientific and development impact of the programme, and also whether the proposal demonstrates that it fits within the remit and objectives of the call.
- Applicants must use the standard format templates for ESPA Grants 2013 outline bids, available from the website given.
- Applicants must submit all required elements in order to be eligible. Outline proposals should be submitted in black & white and as a PDF document.
- The Outline bid will include a short case for support (maximum of 1500 words) that should describe the proposed research and location, the poverty status of people whose lives depend on the ecosystem and the way that the research is likely to deliver development impact.
- Successful applicants who are invited to produce a full proposal will be informed shortly after assessment (c. 1st week February 2013).
- Applicants should only submit one Outline Proposal per project.
- Applicants can only be named on a maximum of two proposals, and may only be named as the Principal Investigator (PI) on one of these.
- Content of ESPA 2013 Grants Outline Proposal
- Applications must be submitted using Arial font with a minimum size of 11pt.
- Word and character limits indicated in this form will be strictly enforced.
- The Outline bid will include a short case for support (maximum of 1500 words) that should describe the proposed research and research location
- References can be included in addition to the 1500 word limit, but should be kept to a maximum of 1 page A4.
- Applicants can include 1 clear diagram, but text within the diagram should be kept to a minimum.
For more information, visit this link
