The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has issued a call for research proposals on the “best possible use” of forests and forest resources.

The call targets eligible Irish research performing organisations (RPOs) under the ForestValue programme. It is the second research call under ForestValue. This is an EU-wide programme, and the call for research proposals is replicated in other EU member states.

The research proposals should target the following areas:

  • Sustainable and multifunctional use and management of forests, to maximize their contribution to sustainable development goals;
  • Building with wood;
  • Analysis of benefits, synergies and trade-offs in the use of forest biomass.

The deadline for the submission of proposals is April 13 at 11:00am Irish time (1:00pm central European summer time – CEST).

Proposals must be submitted via the electronic submission system available on the ForestValue website. In addition, there is a ‘partnering support’ tool to assist researchers co-ordinate with each other.

Projects are expected to start late 2021 or early 2022.

According to the department, the research is aimed at “promoting the best possible use of forests and forest resources for the benefit of society on its way to a climate-neutral circular economy and sustainable society”.

The ForestValue programme comes under the ERA-NET funding programme, an EU-wide funding-instrument designed to support ‘public-public’ partnerships.

The main aims of ERA-NET is the mobility of researchers between countries and enhancing researcher training.