Second phase: Call for pre-proposals launched

On 25 May 2009, the Executive Board of Knowledge for Climate has officially launched the call for pre-proposals. A maximum of € 20 million in subsidy funding is available for this open call. The research will be executed in cooperation with Rotterdam, Haaglanden, Schiphol, the Wadden Sea provinces, different parties in the South-West Netherlands Delta, and many other organisations such as water boards, municipalities, agricultural organisations and nature conservation organisati-ons. They have brought in their research ques-tions into the programme and  will co-finance. Therewith, the total budget available for research will exceed € 30 million.

The research proposals are multiannual, in which PhDs and/or post docs will execute an important part of the research. In detailing the proposals, the connection between general and hotspot-specific research questions plays a central role. The hotspots serve as case studies for the general questions. In the phase in which the selected consortia develop a full proposal, consortia must have finalised the co-financing.     

In brief, the time table:

The selected research themes are:

• Theme 1: Water safety at national and regional level
• Theme 2: Freshwater supply at national and regional level
• Theme 3: Climate-proofing rural areas
• Theme 4: Climate-proofing urban areas
• Theme 5: Infrastructure and networks
• Theme 6: Improving climate projections and the set of instruments used for modelling
• Theme 7: Governance of adaptation
• Theme 8: Decision support tools

These research themes and research questions are formulated on the basis of:

• (a) the questions by the hotspots
• (b) the questions by ministries and provinces that relate to the national adaptation strategies
• (c) the options as seen by the research community for developing applicable knowledge for the adaptation to climate change.

See the following document for the text related to the open call:

• Brochure open call: Adaptation to Climate Change (pdf)

Other documents are available on the Dutch website (only in Dutch) http://kennisvoorklimaat.klimaatonderzoeknederland.nl/opencalldocumenten:

• Source document of the open call Adapatatie aan klimaatverandering with descriptions of the themes and the specific research questions from the hotspots
• A list of all projects in the first phase
• The exploratory scientific reports used for the research programming 
• Subsidy agreement Overeenkomst tot verlenen van financiële bijdrage door Stichting Kennis voor Klimaat
• Frequently Asked Questions about the available research 
• Procedure for lodging an objection

At the same time with this open call, a second call is published in cooperation with the NWO programme National Partnership for a Sustainable Earth. The title of this call is: 'Integrated Sustainable Earth Research'. The programme has three main themes: modelling, uncertainty and governance. The central elements are the underlying relationships between levels of scale and feedbacks in the 'earth – life – society' system.