Deadline: 11-Nov-20
The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) is seeking applications for Climate Resilience through the Next Generation Crops Challenge Area to support research that addresses the challenge of rising global temperatures by increasing the basal or acquired thermotolerance of crop plants.
FFAR builds unique partnerships to support innovative and actionable science addressing today’s food and agriculture challenges. They are seeking innovative research focused on improving climate resilience in crops to provide the critical solutions necessary to enhance the sustainable production of nutritious food for a growing global population.
In accordance with the above intent, the successful research will be applicable to one or more of the following crop species: maize, rice, sorghum, millet, wheat, sweet potato, cassava, banana, yam, common bean, cowpea, chickpea or groundnut. They will also consider research in other plants, if applicants adequately describe how the proposed research would be transferable to the preferred crops. Potential solutions only applicable to agricultural systems in high-income countries or involving domestication of new crops will not be considered.
FFAR would consider:
- Approaches that quantify the specific features of climate-driven temperature change that will most impact crop plants. This may include development or improvement of biophysical crop simulation/predictive models;
- Solutions that address higher temperatures in day and/or night periods;
- Solutions that address increased temperature variability;
- Solutions that could be applied in crop genetic improvement programs;
- Solutions that address the challenges of phenotyping for variation in thermotolerance, including the impact of acclimation;
- Solutions that address temperature response in crop plants, including molecular, enzymatic, physiological, and/or genetic approaches;
- Solutions developed in model plant systems that can be applied to one or more of the above crops;
- Solutions that can be reasonably applied in agricultural systems in low income countries.
Funding Information
- Proposal funding range: $250,000 – $1,000,000
- Project duration: Up to 60 months
Eligibility Criteria
- The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research welcomes applications from institutions of Higher Education, non-profit and for-profit organizations, government-affiliated researchers, and domestic and international organizations.
- Any individual(s) with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) is invited to work with his/her organization to develop an application for support.
Application Submission Guidelines
- Applications must be submitted through FFAR’s online application receipt system. If you are a new user, register for an account by clicking the green “Register” button at the top right corner of the home page. You will receive a confirmation email to activate your account before you can sign-in to your account. Once you log in, click on the corresponding program to start your application.
Application Review Process
- Applications will be reviewed using a two- stage peer review process: (1) External Peer Review, and (2) Next Generation Crops Advisory Council and funders review.
- In the first review stage, applications will be evaluated by an independent, external peer review panel of scientific experts using the application review criteria below.
- In the second review stage, applications judged to be most meritorious by external peer review panels will be evaluated and recommended for funding by the COTF funders based for best fit with the program priorities.
- All reviewers are required to read and acknowledge acceptance of FFAR’s Conflict of Interest Policy and Non-Disclosure Agreement. They make reasonable efforts to ensure that applications are not assigned to reviewers with a real or apparent conflict with the applicant or project personnel.
- Reviewers with a conflict of interest are recused from evaluating or participating in the discussions of applications with which they have a conflict. Each stage of the review is conducted confidentially, and as such, FFAR is responsible for protecting the confidentiality of the contents of the applications. FFAR’s Executive Director will approve each grant award recommendation made by the COTF funders.
For more information, visit https://foundationfar.org/climate-resilience-rfa/