The 2022 Funding Call OPENS on 5 January 2022.
The call will be publicised here on the website, on our social media platforms and via contacts at industry and academic institutions.
If you are able to help publicise the call, please do contact the Network Manager.
The Network is providing a range of funding opportunities to its members, including pump-priming funds for feasibility studies and preliminary data collection to facilitate new collaborations (with emphasis on industry involvement and multidisciplinary) with ring-fenced funds for Early Career Researchers (ECRs), Business Interaction Vouchers (BIV) and Networking Visit Funding (NVF).
A total of £300K will be allocated across three years through a competitive transparent selection process. The awarding of funding is subject to applicants satisfying the Network’s Terms and Conditions.
THE 2022 FUNDING CALL
£100K is available for funding as follows:
PUMP PRIMING
Purpose: Short term collaboration funding for projects for use to develop ideas and research plans or conduct feasibility studies for acquisition of preliminary data that would enable a project to be developed beyond the pump-priming phase.
Funding available: Up to £5-20K per application (£90K total available for this call).
Project duration: Up to 6 months
BUSINESS INTERACTION VOUCHERS
Purpose: To develop collaborations between researchers and industrialists. The funding will enable researchers to meet with industry partners to develop project ideas and conduct feasibility trials.
Funding available: Up to £2K per application (£5K total available for this call)
NETWORKING VISIT FUNDING
Purpose: To enable academics from different institutions to meet to co-develop ideas and preconcept note proposals.
Funding available: Up to £2K per application (£5K total available for this call)
ELIGIBILITY
Funding is available for projects led by UK based researchers at UKRI eligible institutions from any discipline.
Please check the BBSRC Research Grants Guide here for further details.
Applications are encouraged from Early Career Researchers whose first or early research project proposals are relevant to the Network’s remit.
An ECR is anyone within 10 years of gaining a PhD and/or anyone appointed to their first academic position on or after 1 August 2016.
HOW TO APPLY
Applications should be made by completing the relevant application form and returning by email to info@foodlossnetwork.com by 5pm on 28 February 2022. Applicants will be notified of the selection process outcome by late April/early May 2022.
Projects can start from 1 May – 30 June 2022.
Application forms and Call guidance
Pump Priming 2022 Funding Call Guidelines
Pump Priming 2022 Funding Call Application Form
BIV 2022 Funding Call Guidelines
NVF 2022 Funding Call Guidelines
NVF BIV 2022 Funding Call Application Form
HOW TO ADVERTISE THIS CALL
Please use the poster and Press Release below to help advertise this funding call:
HortQFLNet 2022 Funding Call Poster
HortQFLNet 2022 Funding Call Press Release
The funds will be used to address key issues in the area of food quality and losses which will strengthen the quality, collaborative (including industry involvement) and cross-disciplinary nature of future innovative and novel grant proposals to UKRI-BBSRC. UKRI-BBSRC wishes to support research and innovation in scope that focuses on the following priorities identified under ‘reducing waste’ in the Agriculture and Food Security Strategic Framework:
1. Enabling more effective prediction and better control of harvesting windows by understanding the underpinning developmental biology of horticultural crops relating to dormancy, flowering time, maturation biology and senescence.
2. Optimising uniformity and physical traits by exploiting crop genetics
3. Reducing the risks of spoilage by understanding and managing the relevant biological processes
4. Minimising losses within the food system by understanding and controlling the fundamental biology that influences food storage and shelf-life
A fifth priority has been added to the scope of the project –
5. Increasing resilience of the fresh produce supply chain by understanding the impact of adverse factors (such as Covid-19 pandemic) on food security