Antarctic Proposals and Fieldwork Planning

NERC funding proposals

Background

The final call for proposals to the NERC Antarctic Funding Initiative was announced in 2009. Proposals which require Antarctic logistic support are now considered through Responsive Mode opportunities (standard grants, large grants, new investigator grants and NERC Fellowships). Similarly, funding bids in response to other Announcements of Opportunity, such as those associated with NERC Research Programmes, may also request Antarctic logistic support through this common process.

In all cases, it is a NERC requirement that a Preliminary request for Antarctic logistic support form is submitted to the Antarctic Funding Office, (email: afibas@bas.ac.uk) hosted at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), at least three months before the submission deadline for the funding proposal. Any funding applications that request Antarctic logistic support without having obtained prior logistic approval will not be accepted by NERC.

Application Process and Deadlines

  • Step 1

Check eligibility and requirements
  • Step 2

Submit a Preliminary request for Antarctic logistic support

Deadline: Preliminary request forms must be submitted by 4 p.m. on 2nd April 2013 for the July 2013 standard grant call (expected to be 4 p.m. on 1st July). Feedback will contain a logistics approval reference code, if support for your project is considered feasible.
  • Step 3

Submit a funding proposal via Je-S

Deadline: Expected to be 4 p.m. on 1st July 2013; including the detailed Antarctic logistic questionnaire as an attachment, and quote the logistics approval reference code that was supplied with the feedback to the Preliminary request for Antarctic logistic support.

Scheduling of Fieldwork Support

Applicants should note that, for proposals submitted in response to NERC responsive mode funding opportunities during 2013 (including standard grants call, expected to have closing dates of 1st July and 2nd December respectively), the earliest Antarctic fieldwork season for logistic support of the funded projects will normally be 2015/16. Although BAS will aim to support all the projects during that season, the timing of Antarctic fieldwork necessarily depends on numerous operational factors. BAS therefore reserves the right to decide on the timing of logistic support for individual projects, on the basis of the most efficient and effective use of its resources.