Deadline: 17-Nov-21
The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science (SC) program in Biological and Environmental Research (BER) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for research in Environmental System Science (ESS) Program.
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will consider applications that focus on measurements, experiments, field data, and modeling to provide improved understanding and representation of ecosystems and watersheds in ways that advance the sophistication and capabilities of models that span from individual processes to Earth system scales.
The BER ESS program goal is to advance an integrated, robust, and scale-aware predictive understanding of terrestrial systems and their interdependent microbial, biogeochemical, ecological, hydrological, and physical processes.
To support this goal, the program uses a systems approach to develop an integrative framework to elucidate the complex processes and controls on the structure, function, feedbacks, and dynamics of terrestrial systems, that span from molecular to global scales and extend from the bedrock through the soil, rhizosphere, and vegetation to the atmosphere.
The ESS program scope advances foundational process knowledge with an emphasis on understudied ecosystems. Supported research emphasizes ecological and hydro-biogeochemical linkages among system components and characterization of processes across interfaces (eg, terrestrial-aquatic, coastal, urban) to address key knowledge gaps and uncertainties across a range of spatial and temporal scales.
Areas
This FOA will encompass three Science Research Areas:
- investigation of ecosystem and watershed responses to plant-mediated ecohydrologic processes, through their influence on biogeochemical cycling, hydrologic dynamics, and / or land-atmosphere exchange;
- understanding the influence of wildfire and flood disturbances on hydro-biogeochemical processes and system function; and,
- the role of fungal networks in shaping ecosystem function through coordination of ecohydrological or biogeochemical response to stress, ephemeral soil resources, or transient environmental factors.
- Total funding up to $ 10,000,000 is expected to be available to support this FOA subject to appropriation of funds by the Congress.
- Ceiling
- Science Research Area 1 and 2: $ 1,000,000 total award, whether requested for one, two, or three years
- Science Research Area 3: $ 300,000 total award, whether requested for one, two, or three years
- Floor: $ 100,000 total award, whether requested for one, two, or three years
- Approximately 10 to 15 awards are expected.
- DOE anticipates making awards with a project period of one to three years.
- All types of applicants are eligible to apply, except nonprofit organizations of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995.
- DOE / NNSA National Laboratories are not eligible to submit applications under this FOA but may be proposed as subrecipients under another organization’s application. If recommended for funding as a proposed subrecipient, the value of the proposed subaward will be removed from the prime applicant’s award and will be provided to the laboratory through the DOE Field-Work Proposal System and work will be conducted under the laboratory’s contract with DOE.
- Non-DOE / NNSA FFRDCs are eligible to submit applications under this FOA but are not eligible to be proposed as subrecipients under another organization’s application. Instead, they must submit their own application as a team member in a multi-institutional team. If recommended for funding, either as the sole applicant or in a multi-institutional team, funding may be provided through an interageny agreement to the FFRDC’s sponsoring Federal Agency.
- Other Federal Agencies are eligible to submit applications under this FOA but are not eligible to be proposed as subrecipients under another organization’s application. Instead, they must submit their own application as a team member in a multi-institutional team. If recommended for funding, either as the sole applicant or in a multi-institutional team, funding will be provided through an interagency agreement.
- Applicants that are not domestic organizations should be advised that:
- Individual applicants are unlikely to possess the skills, abilities, and resources to successfully accomplish the objectives of this FOA. Individual applicants are encouraged to address this concern in their applications and to demonstrate how they will accomplish the objectives of this FOA.
- Non-domestic applicants are advised that successful applications from non-domestic applicants include a detailed demonstration of how the applicant possesses skills, resources, and abilities that do not exist among potential domestic applicants.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=336147