Funding opportunity

Pre-announcement: Ecological effects of floating offshore wind (ECOFLOW)

• Opportunity status: Upcoming
• Funders: Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
• Co-funders: The Crown Estate (TCE)
• Funding type: Grant
• Total fund: £6,300,000
• Maximum award: £2,625,000
• Publication date: 14 November 2023
• Opening date: To be confirmed
• Closing date: 29 February 2024 4:00pm UK time

Apply for funding to enhance understanding of how marine ecosystems will respond to the planned large-scale expansion of floating offshore wind infrastructure in UK waters in the next decade.

You must be:

• based at a UK research organisation eligible for Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funding
• in a role that meets the individual eligibility requirements

Funding can last for up to 48 months.

This is a pre-announcement and the information may change.

The funding opportunity will open in January 2024. More information will be available on this page by then.

Who can apply

Before applying for funding, check the following:

• NERC eligibility guidance for applicants
• eligibility of your organisation

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new UKRI Funding Service. For full details, visit Eligibility as an individual.

Project leads and co-leads must meet our standard eligibility criteria.

Who is eligible to apply

This funding opportunity is open to research groups and individuals. We:

• encourage multidisciplinary research and collaborations with other UK organisations
• encourage applications from diverse groups of researchers
• welcome applications from individuals at any career stage, subject to NERC eligibility criteria

Who is not eligible to apply

You may be involved in no more than two applications submitted to this funding opportunity. Only one of these can be as project lead.

Project partners fund their own involvement. We will only fund minor incidental expenses, such as some travel costs, if needed for project partners.

International applicants

We do not fund overseas organisations, except for specific costs for project co-leads (previously co-investigator) from Norway and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). Read more about this in the NERC eligibility guidance for applicants.

You should include all other international collaborators (or UK partners not based at approved organisations) as project partners. This includes organisations from the business or financial sectors.

What we're looking for

This is a pre-announcement for the Ecological effects of floating offshore wind (ECOFLOW) research programme.

The demands on marine space in UK waters have never been greater, driven by the need to:

• provide energy security
• develop essential renewable energy infrastructure
• create social and economic value
• ensure the restoration and future resilience of marine biodiversity and ecosystem services

The ECOFLOW research programme will focus on enhancing understanding of how marine ecosystems will respond to the planned large-scale expansion of floating offshore wind infrastructure (FLOW) in UK waters in the next decade. The programme will address critical evidence needs of government and industry that are required to inform policy and decision making.

The ECOFLOW programme’s three objectives are to:

• develop an enhanced understanding of the novel effects of FLOW on marine ecosystems, transform the approach to deploying FLOW at scale whilst maintaining nature recovery, and its coexistence with other users of the sea, particularly fisheries
• utilise autonomous sensing technologies to establish innovative underwater sampling approaches within and around the complex infrastructure associated with FLOW
• deliver robust evidence, new approaches and tools that will enable the acceleration of impact in policy and industry, and support government’s ambitions in the Celtic Sea and the North Sea’s Scottish waters for the deployment of FLOW, nature recovery and fisheries management

Programme outcomes

There are five outcomes that will need to be delivered by the end of the ECOFLOW programme and each application will be required to clearly outline how proposed research will contribute to these outcomes:

• enhance understanding of ecosystem responses to the cumulative pressures of large-scale deployment of FLOW, in combination with other stressors
• provide a sound evidence base to inform decision-making for managing human activity and policy prioritisation associated with the delivery of an expansion of FLOW
• demonstrate new innovative underwater sampling approaches for integrated marine observing to inform and support better understanding of the ecologically sustainable management of FLOW
• provide of a sound evidence base to inform policy and marine management responses in support government’s ambitions in the Celtic Sea and the North Sea’s Scottish waters for the deployment of FLOW, nature recovery and fisheries management
• develop long-term relationships between NERC researchers, government, and the FLOW industry, built around rigorous applied research and long-term data management and archiving

How to apply

Full guidance on how to apply will be published in January 2024.

How we will assess your application

The assessment of applications will be a two-stage process:

• outline application stage
• full application stage

Outline applications will be assessed and shortlisted by an assessment panel. Shortlisted applicants will subsequently be invited to submit applications to the full proposal stage.

Contact details

Ask about this funding opportunity

Email: ecoflow@nerc.ukri.org

Enquiries can be sent to this email. However, we will not be able to provide additional information about this funding opportunity in advance of its publication.

Additional info

Webinar

We are planning on holding a webinar on the 13 February 2024, more details will be available once the full funding opportunity guidance is published.