This grant, offered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the US and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) in the UK, aims to address the critical challenge of sustainable food production. Current agricultural practices rely heavily on artificial nitrogen fertilizers, which are costly, energy-intensive, and significantly contribute to environmental pollution through run-off and greenhouse gas emissions. This initiative seeks to develop innovative approaches to increase natural nitrogen availability for crop plants. The goal is to maintain or enhance crop yields while drastically reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers, thereby mitigating environmental impacts. Furthermore, the grant encourages strong transatlantic alliances, fostering collaboration between highly qualified US and UK researchers to leverage diverse expertise and achieve substantial scientific breakthroughs.
Opportunity ID: 183035
General Information
| Document Type: | Grants Notice |
| Funding Opportunity Number: | 12-579 |
| Funding Opportunity Title: | Nitrogen: Improving on Nature |
| Opportunity Category: | Discretionary |
| Opportunity Category Explanation: | – |
| Funding Instrument Type: | Grant |
| Category of Funding Activity: | Science and Technology and other Research and Development |
| Category Explanation: | – |
| Expected Number of Awards: | 10 |
| Assistance Listings: | 47.074 — Biological Sciences |
| Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: | No |
| Version: | Synopsis 1 |
| Posted Date: | Jul 10, 2012 |
| Last Updated Date: | – |
| Original Closing Date for Applications: | Feb 01, 2013 Preliminary Proposal Due Date(s) (optional): September 07, 2012 required for participation in Ideas Lab otherwise optional Full Proposal Deadline(s): February 01, 2013 |
| Current Closing Date for Applications: | Feb 01, 2013 Preliminary Proposal Due Date(s) (optional): September 07, 2012 required for participation in Ideas Lab otherwise optional Full Proposal Deadline(s): February 01, 2013 |
| Archive Date: | Mar 01, 2013 |
| Estimated Total Program Funding: | $8,000,000 |
| Award Ceiling: | $1,500,000 |
| Award Floor: | – |
Eligibility
| Eligible Applicants: | Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled “Additional Information on Eligibility” |
| Additional Information on Eligibility: | – |
Additional Information
| Agency Name: | U.S. National Science Foundation |
| Description: | Nitrogen is critical to plant growth. A limited number of plant species have the capacity to fix atmospheric nitrogen through symbioses with nitrogen fixing bacteria; the rest need to obtain their nitrogen through soluble compounds in soil. For the majority of crop plants, nitrogen availability has been increased through the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers. However, application of artificial fertilizers is costly and is limited in developing countries, where the cost and lack of infrastructure are barriers. The process by which these fertilizers are produced is energy-intensive and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Further, much of the nitrogen applied to agricultural land through fertilizers is not used by the crop and is lost as run-off into water courses or as greenhouse gases through denitrification, resulting in deleterious impacts on the environment. The ultimate aim of this Ideas Lab between the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the US and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) in the UK is to help meet the challenge of sustainably producing enough food for a growing population while reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The aspiration is that mixing researchers from diverse scientific backgrounds will engender fresh thinking and new approaches that can be used to increase nitrogen availability to crop plants whilst maintaining or increasing yield, and hence decrease the need for the application of fertilizer. In addition, by bringing together highly qualified researchers from the US and the UK, the intention is to form strong transatlantic alliances, where the resulting synergies from the expertise of each partner allow for significant added value. US researchers may submit preliminary proposals onlyvia FastLane for participating in the Ideas Lab in which a set of multidisciplinary ideas will be developed. These will be submitted as full proposals. Alternatively, US researchers who cannot or do not desire to participate in the Ideas Lab can submit full proposals directly via FastLane or Grants.gov in response to this solicitation. Collaboration among researchers from USA and UK is strongly encouraged in the full proposals. The link to the BBSRC announcement is http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/funding/opportunities/2012/ideaslab-nitrogen-improving-on-nature.aspx. |
| Link to Additional Information: | NSF Publication 12-579 |
| Grantor Contact Information: | If you have difficulty accessing the full announcement electronically, please contact:
NSF grants.gov support
grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov Email:grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov |
Version History
| Version | Modification Description | Updated Date |
|---|---|---|
Related Documents
There are no related documents on this grant.
Packages
| Agency Contact Information: | NSF grants.gov support grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov Email: grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov |
| Who Can Apply: | Organization Applicants |
| Assistance Listing Number | Competition ID | Competition Title | Opportunity Package ID | Opening Date | Closing Date | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47.074 | PKG00133314 | Jul 10, 2012 | Feb 01, 2013 | View |
Package 1
Mandatory forms
183035 RR_SF424_1_2-1.2.pdf
183035 PerformanceSite_1_4-1.4.pdf
183035 RR_OtherProjectInfo_1_3-1.3.pdf
183035 RR_KeyPersonExpanded_1_2-1.2.pdf
183035 RR_PersonalData_1_2-1.2.pdf
183035 RR_Budget-1.1.pdf
183035 NSF_CoverPage_1_3-1.3.pdf
Optional forms
183035 RR_SubawardBudget-1.2.pdf
183035 NSF_DeviationAuthorization-1.1.pdf
183035 NSF_SuggestedReviewers-1.1.pdf
183035 NSF_Registration_1_3-1.3.pdf
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