Minister Michael Creed has announced details of the latest call for proposals under the US-Ireland Research and Development Partnership.

The research programme is targeted at a number of agri-food related areas, with the aim of “delivering science-based knowledge to end users, allowing them to make informed, practical decisions”.

Minister Creed commented: “The US-Ireland Research and Development Partnership has been instrumental in bringing together researchers from Ireland – north and south – and the US in order to tackle shared challenges and provide scientific solutions to common problems in the agri-food sector.

I am delighted to announce the latest call for proposals and the continuation of the funding programme for 2020.

The minister stressed his commitment to “identifying strategically aligned transnational funding opportunities to help address national challenges, and maximise research and innovation in the Irish agri-food sector”.

“Today’s announcement will further deepen Ireland’s involvement in selective, strategically important international agri-food research initiatives and my department is delighted to continue our support for this tri-jurisdictional alliance of ideas and goals,” he added.

The deadline for submissions of proposals to both the department here and Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) will be four weeks ahead of the deadline for the US, decided on by the relevant authorities there.

The 2020 partnership will support the following six ‘priority areas’:

  • Pests and beneficial species in agricultural production systems;
  • Animal nutrition, growth and lactation;
  • Welfare and well-being of agricultural animals;
  • Diseases of agricultural animals;
  • Animal breeding and functional annotation of genomes;
  • Mitigating antimicrobial resistance across the food chain.

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