2024 Joint Call for Research Proposals

The Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and the New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries invites eligible Irish and New Zealand Research Performing Organisations (RPOs) to submit joint research proposals under the "2024 Joint Call for Research Proposals on strategies, technologies and novel systems to reduce and account for greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture ruminant production systems."

The call contributes to the overall objectives of the Joint Research Initiative to enhance bilateral collaborative research between Ireland and New Zealand in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction in pasture-based ruminant production systems.

This is a single stage competitive submission process.

The deadline for the submission of proposals is 6th June 20244 (17:00 IST).

The purpose of the Joint Call is to address common climate-related challenges in the agriculture sectors in Ireland and New Zealand. The aims of the 2024 Joint Call is to enable research on climate mitigation from agriculture ruminant, pasture-based livestock production systems; and to strengthen and improve cooperation and collaborations between the two research communities, and to connect research partners with different but complementary scientific and technological expertise to maximise impact.

Joint proposals submitted to the Call should advance the body of knowledge towards large scale applicable practices and technologies in key areas that include land management practices in particular for organic agricultural soils, inventory refinement and improvement, technologies to develop low emission ruminant livestock and pasture systems, and agri-digitalisation and data to support climate mitigation, which taken together offer significant potential for greenhouse gas emissions reduction and the sequestration of atmospheric carbon.

Proposals submitted to the Call must address one of the four following topics:

Topic 1: Refinement of agricultural GHG emissions inventories through the development of emission factors for Methane, Nitrous Oxide and Carbon Dioxide

Topic 2: Development and assessment of technologies for the mitigation of greenhouse gases from ruminant systems

Topic 3: Data and digitalisation, including the standardisation of methodologies, to support climate-related action and management practices in agriculture

The electronic submission system for joint research proposals under this Call is through the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine's online application and grant management portal: Flexi®Grant

Proposals must be submitted via the electronic submission system.

More detailed information on the scope and research topics of this call, eligibility criteria, submission procedures and the national annexes for Ireland and New Zealand are provided in the Joint Call Documentation below.

Two webinars for applicants will be held jointly by DAFM and the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) for interested Irish and New Zealand researchers to provide an overview about all relevant aspects of the Call and provide time to answer open questions. The information webinars for researchers will take place after the Call launch on:

- 25th April 2024 @10:00 IST (webinar hosted by DAFM for Irish applicants)

- 30th April @10:00 NZT (webinar hosted by MPI for New Zealand researchers)

For the DAFM webinar on 25/04/2024 please register at the following link: Registration (gotowebinar.com)

Irish applicants must read the Joint Call Documentation in conjunction with Annex B that sets out additional national requirements for Irish applicants.