€7 million in research funding announced by EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), launched its new research programme, open to researchers and companies, which will support positive and pragmatic research into the issues that affect us and our environment. The EPA also announced that €7 million is to be made available under the programme’s first funding call in the areas of Climate, Water and Sustainability, released today.

The EPA research programme will run to 2020 and will involve as many as 600 researchers and industrial innovators over its lifetime.

Dara Lynott, Deputy Director General of the EPA, said, “The quality of our environment is critical to our wellbeing. EPA funded research will help us to make better choices to achieve a sustainable future, reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and manage our water resources.”

Dr. Brian Donlon, EPA Research Manager said, “While tackling important environmental challenges, our recent experience has shown that good research also provides substantial potential for the creation of business opportunities and jobs in Ireland. During the lifetime of the EPA research programme we will collaborate with enterprise agencies to identify innovative environmental solutions that could support the growth of the green economy.”

A combination of projects will be funded through the programme ranging from short desk studies to large multi-annual capability development projects involving several organisations. New aspects to the proposed research programme include:

  1. Funding for bottom-up research ideas aimed at environmental issues;
  2. Piloting of innovations in the area of citizen-centric public services;
  3. Innovative use of social networks to influence the behaviours needed to enable Ireland to become a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy and society;
  4. Greater use of co-funding with national and international partners on shared research priorities.

Dr. Brian Donlon continued, “This programme will build upon the success of previous research programmes through which over 800 researchers have delivered high-quality scientific evidence that informs policy, identifies pressures and develops solutions for environmental issues. These researchers are now in a position to compete for European research funding under the Horizon 2020 programme.”

Source: envirocentre.ie