The Antarctic Funding Initiative (AFI) is a non-thematic Initiative of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and is supported logistically by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). Funding has been awarded annually, on a competitive basis, to support field-based research conducted in the BAS operating area. The final Announcement of Opportunity for AFI (Round 11) was made in May 2009, with funding decisions announced in April 2010. For information about the current procedure for applying for NERC funding to conduct research which requires Antarctic fieldwork support, please refer to the News Items section below.
There is also a Collaborative Gearing Scheme (CGS), which offers opportunities for scientific collaboration with BAS in cases where no additional funding for salaries, grants or direct science costs is required, but where access to field activities already included in the BAS science programme can enhance the scientific outcome of the latter significantly. Applications may be submitted at any time of the year, but please note that: (1) unless there are exceptional mitigating circumstances, proposals must be submitted to the AFI Coordinator no later than 31st March in the same calendar year as the start of the intended field season; (2) contact details of all fieldwork participants must be supplied to the AFI Coordinator no later than 30th June preceding the intended Antarctic season.
News Items
AFI Workshop 2011
The annual AFI Workshop for 2011 will be held at the usual venue of Murray Edwards College (formerly known as New Hall), Cambridge, on 12th and 13th September. The draft Agenda is now available to view.
Proposals to NERC for funding projects which require Antarctic fieldwork support
As a result of recent changes that NERC has made to the way research is funded and delivered, proposals which require Antarctic logistic support are now considered through the Responsive Mode standard grant scheme, rather than through a separate initiative (Antarctic Funding Initiative). The 10th June 2010 proposal call was the first to adopt this new arrangement, with the primary Antarctic fieldwork season for successful proposals being 2012/13.
To ensure that the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is able to consider the likely logistic support requirements at an early stage, before proposals have been developed in detail, applicants need to complete a Preliminary Request for Antarctic Logistic Support form. The completed form should be submitted to the Antarctic Funding Office at BAS (afibas@bas.ac.uk) no later than three months prior to the submission deadline of the intended call. Thus, for intended proposal submissions to the 1st July 2011 standard grant round, the deadline for completed Preliminary Request for Antarctic Logistic Support forms to be received is 1st April 2011. The requests will be considered by a logistics panel convened at BAS and feedback supplied to applicants.
Subject to the logistic requests receiving approval, applicants will be provided with a reference number to be entered on the detailed Antarctic Logistics Support Questionnaire together with the date that the logistics panel approval was received; further details will be provided in the feedback supplied to applicants. The Antarctic Logistics Support Questionnaire will need to be attached to the full proposal submission to NERC, via the Je-S system.
The approved Preliminary Requests for Antarctic Logistic Support will be valid for a 12 months period from the date of application. Any funding applications received that request Antarctic Logistic Support without having received prior logistical approval will not be accepted by NERC.
Applications to other Responsive Mode funding opportunities (Consortium grants, Small grants, New Investigator grants, NERC Fellowships) may now also include requests for Antarctic logistic support, using the same system. In all cases, a completed Preliminary Request for Antarctic Logistic Support form should be submitted to afibas@bas.ac.uk no later than three months prior to the submission deadline of the intended call. Similarly, Research Programmes may request Antarctic logistic support through this common process. For further information, contact Martin Miller mfm@bas.ac.uk or Ned Garnett nedg@nerc.ac.uk.
Scheduling of Antarctic fieldwork for proposals submitted to standard responsive mode calls
The primary Antarctic field season for funded proposals from the responsive mode calls with respective submission deadlines of 4 p.m. on 10th June 2010 and 1st December 2010 will be 2012/13.
Future of the Collaborative Gearing Scheme (CGS)
The Collaborative Gearing Scheme is intended to provide opportunities for researchers based at higher education institutions (including UK Universities, Research Council Institutes and approved Independent Research Organisations) to undertake field-based research in Antarctica, in scientific collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and with logistic support provided by BAS. The Scheme does not provide funding for salaries, capital equipment or other direct costs, but does offer access to BAS Antarctic infrastructure, together with transport between the UK and Antarctica and the provision of fieldwork clothing. Further information about the Collaborative Gearing Scheme.
Although research proposals requiring access to BAS Antarctic infrastructure are now considered through responsive-mode opportunities (instead of through the Antarctic Funding Initiative), it was decided that the Collaborative Gearing Scheme should continue (the announcement was made on 25th January 2010). For further information, please contact Martin Miller at mfm@bas.ac.uk.
AFI Round 11
The deadline for submitting full proposals to Round 11 of AFI was 4 p.m. on Thursday 29th October 2009. The AFI Moderating Panel meeting was held on 25th March 2010, to award grades to the received proposals and to rank them in order of funding priority. Funding decisions were subsequently finalised by NERC and the list of projects awarded can be viewed here. The primary Antarctic field season for those projects will be 2011/12.
