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Partnership Opportunity in UK: Offering £2,000,000 in total funds

Deadline: 3-Aug-22

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is offering grant for projects to test approaches and develop strategies to improve the understanding, management and control of crop pests and diseases that present a significant threat to crop production in the UK.

Proposals should bring together businesses to partner with academic researchers for discovery research and innovation activities addressing crop pests and diseases of direct relevance to farmers and growers.

Challenge areas

This list of challenge areas is not comprehensive, nor should they be siloed. The scope is solutions-focused. Research and translation activities that cut across the challenge areas are encouraged.

You should explore at least one of the following challenge areas:

  • fundamental study of the biology of pests and diseases. This includes:
    • studies of host-pest interactions
    • population biology and epidemiology
    • diversity and abundance studies
    • mechanisms of infection and dispersal
  • prevention and biosecurity. This involves studies and approaches to prevent pest incidence and proliferation, including, but not limited to:
    • genetics of crop and host tolerance and resistance
    • novel cultural and rotational approaches
    • habitat and environmental management to maximise the presence of natural enemies
    • approaches to limit the introduction and spread of pests and diseases
  • detection and forecasting. This relates to studies that develop new approaches and applications for detection, monitoring and forecasting of crop pests, including, but not limited to real-time and remote sensing, development of novel sensors and molecular diagnostics, and the integration of these new tools into forecasting and decision-support applications.
  • novel control. This is the development of new approaches that provide new control solutions for crop pests, including chemical, biological and genetic interventions
  • development of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approaches. This involves the development of proof-of-concept for novel IPM approaches that combine prevention, detection and control to deliver truly integrated solutions, including approaches that integrate pest and disease control and modelling and simulation of IPM systems.

You may investigate weeds as part of the pest and disease complex, for example, where controlling the weed is an effective route to controlling the target pest as part of an IPM approach.

You are encouraged to consider how the outputs of your application may generate preliminary findings that underpin high quality proposals to UKRI and other funding opportunities for collaborative research and innovation, or to de-risk direct industry investment and commercialisation.

Funding Information
  • Total fund: £2,000,000
    Award range: £20,000 – £50,000
  • They expect projects to commence between 1 January 2023 and 1 October 2023. Projects must end before 31 December 2023.
Eligibility Criteria

You must:

  • be based at a UK institution eligible for funding (standard eligibility criteria applies)
  • include an industrial partner in your proposal.
  • Grant duration is three to six months.
  • You must be based at a UK institution eligible for funding in accordance with standard UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) practice. Standard eligibility criteria applies.
  • Institutions normally eligible for UKRI funding include:
    • UK higher education institutions
    • research council institutes
    • UKRI-approved independent research organisations
    • UKRI-approved public sector research establishments (PSREs).
  • To be eligible as a principal investigator or co-investigator you must meet at least one of the following criteria:
    • be resident in the UK at the time of the application (meaning you spend 183 or more days in the UK in the tax year)
    • be moving to the UK to take up an already agreed contract at an eligible organisation and remain in the UK for the duration of the proposed project (the contract must not be dependent on the outcome of the application).
  • You must also:
    • be employed by (or scheduled to move to) the eligible research organisation submitting the proposal
    • hold a research staff appointment at the organisation at academic lecturer level or equivalent, resourced from the central funds of the organisation.
    • If you are not employed by the submitting organisation (and not in receipt of funding by non-eligible organisations) you may still apply, but only if you have an existing written formal arrangement with the organisation confirming that the research will be conducted as if you are an employee at lecturer level or equivalent, but without salary costs.
    • Applications from organisations or individuals that are not eligible will be rejected without reference to panel review.

For more information, visit https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/partnerships-to-address-crop-and-pest-diseases-in-uk-agriculture-and-horticulture/