The Office of Foundations Relations is pleased to share this open call for funding from the Simons Foundation.
UCSC Contact: Samantha Forde|forde@ucsc.edu
Funder: Simons Foundation
Program: Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Solar Radiation Management
LOI Deadline: May 31, 2023, 9:00am PST
Overview:
The Simons Foundation is launching an international collaborative research program designed to fill fundamental scientific knowledge gaps relevant to Solar Radiation Management (SRM). SRM is an emerging collection of approaches, including stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), marine cloud brightening (MCB), and cirrus cloud thinning (CCT), designed to modify the Earth’s radiative balance and cool the planet.
The foundation strongly encourages applications from scientists in the global south and from investigators who may not have worked in SRM but have expertise that could bring new perspectives and skills to this field.
Proposals will be judged on scientific quality, potential for impact, potential for collaboration, extent of training graduate students and postdocs, and broadening participation domestically and globally.
Priority areas for this call include:
- Environmentally benign materials discovery for SAI and CCT.
- Laboratory physicochemical characterization of SAI and CCT materials and their interactions with light, clouds, atmospheric trace gases and with themselves or ambient aerosols, with the aim to improve microphysical inputs to existing climate models.
- Approaches to minimize cirrus cloud formation, including from aircraft emissions.
- Assessments of near-field (<100 km) atmospheric turbulence and its impact on SAI and CCT interventions, primarily through modeling.
- Integration of improved representations of aerosols and turbulence into global-scale modeling, and characterization of global and regional impacts of novel materials for SAI and CCT.
Funding:
- $1.5M over 3 years
- Proposal budgets should not exceed $500,000 per year, including indirect costs
- Indirect cost is limited to 20 percent modified total direct costs
- Allowable indirect costs to the primary institution for subcontracts are not included in the $500,000 budget threshold (see grant policies).
- The program is anticipated to award $10M total per year over a five-year period.
- Up to 20 awards will be funded although some of the original $10M may be held in reserve to award during a potential two-year renewal period after the initial three year award.
Eligibility:
- Proposals from individual investigators or small teams (not required to be from the same institution).
- Investigators can be either science/engineering faculty at Ph.D.-granting research universities or Ph.D.-level research staff members at nonacademic institutions.
- Projects which have not been well supported through existing national programs will be prioritized.
Timeline
- May 15, 2023 LOI deadline
- July 31, 2023 Applicants notified
- October 3, 2023 Full proposal due at 11 a.m. EDT
- December 31, 2023 Notification
- February 1, 2024 Award begins
Special Instructions:
Please notify the Office of Foundation Relations if you are interested in applying to this opportunity (cfr@ucsc.edu). For support developing your LOI, please contact the Research Development Specialist (RDS) assigned to your unit or send a request to resdev@ucsc.edu. If invited to submit a full proposal, you will need to submit a proposal intake form prior to UCSC’s internal Institutional Deadlines. Your RDS can also help you develop your proposal.
The Office of Foundation Relations is a unit of University Relations. The FR team creates and maintains mutually beneficial, long-term relationships with private organizations, matching grant initiatives with educational and research programs and centers. FR supports faculty and staff to identify and approach these and other private foundations and corporations for funding, to assist in strategic positioning of the grant application, and to facilitate funder campus visits.
For a list of recent funding opportunities, please visit the FR website. FR Calls for Funding