Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has offered €11.7 million to new research projects, inviting proposals from the research community to “address climate change and other emerging, complex environmental problems” through research that supports the “development and implementation of environmental policies in Ireland”.
The EPA research programme is a Government of Ireland initiative funded by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. As part of the call for research projects, the EPA is seeking proposals from 4 interconnected research areas, with topics including:
- Climate science, adaptation, scenarios, resilience and policy response.
- Improving knowledge of greenhouse gas and air emission inventories.
- Health in industrial regulation and assessment.
- Chemicals, hazardous substances and radiation in our environment.
- Innovative approaches to environmental monitoring.
- Land use knowledge, assessment and environmental risk.
- Opportunities and barriers in climate action and circular economy.
- Raw materials and resources substitution and efficiency.
EPA Director General, Laura Burke, said: “EPA-funded research is essential to improving national understanding of our environment, the challenges it faces and responses to these challenges. The EPA funds research seeks to address knowledge gaps, provide robust evidence to inform policy and support the implementation of environmental policies in Ireland.”
To apply for EPA funding, the research project must be registered on the EPA’s online Grant Application and Project Management system. All research proposals must be submitted in response to one of the topics included in the call descriptions, which include the potential use of satellite data in environmental monitoring and assessment and the role of the environment in the development and transmission of antimicrobial resistance.
Dr Alice Wemaere, EPA Research Manager, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with a number of organisations, including the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; the Geological Survey Ireland and Met Éireann, to co-fund environmental research and address key environmental challenges.”