NERC: Research biological influence on future ocean storage of carbon

03/03/2022

23/03/2022

The Natural Environment Research Council invites applications for its research biological influence on future ocean storage call. This supports research providing new understanding of the role of marine life in ocean carbon storage. The aim of the call is to fund research addressing three specific challenges that will provide a fundamental understanding of key biological processes that are globally relevant. The full economic cost of the project may be up to £250,000 and funding may cover up to 80 per cent of the full economic cost. Projects may last up to two years.

The three interlinked programme challenges, which address three aspects of biological influence are: •challenge one – how does marine life affect the potential for seawater to absorb CO2, and how will this change; •challenge two – how will the rate at which marine life converts dissolved CO2 into organic carbon change; •challenge three – how will climate change-induced shifts in respiration by the marine ecosystem affect the future ocean storage of carbon.

You may apply for funding to address any of the programme’s three challenges, or a combination of them. Funding should be used for modelling, analyses of existing data or laboratory work. Research should focus on specific gaps in understanding relating to globally significant processes.