The 2024 call for proposals under the United States (US) -Ireland research and development partnership in agriculture has opened.
It was opened today (Tuesday, March 26) by Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) with special responsibility for research and innovation, Martin Heydon T.D.
Making the announcement, Minister Heydon said: “I am delighted to announce the opening of the 2024 US-Ireland research and development partnership in agriculture”.
The 2024 call aims to support Irish, Northern Irish and American researchers to collaborate on projects across thirteen areas important to agriculture.
“This important partnership between Ireland, Northern Ireland and the USA provides an essential mechanism for the collaboration and sharing of expertise and resources between researchers from across the three jurisdictions,” Minister Heydon said.
Minister Heydon explained: “Ireland is ranked third globally for the quality of its agricultural science and animal and dairy science, which makes us an attractive collaborator for research in these fields.
“The US–Ireland research and development partnership brings together our best scientists with those in Northern Ireland and the US, which enables more rapid progress in areas such as climate, animal breeding, the bioeconomy, sustainable agroecosystems and mitigating antimicrobial resistance.”
The call invites eligible research performing organisations (RPO’s) from the Republic of Ireland to submit joint research proposals, with collaborating partners from the USA and Northern Ireland, under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
The submission deadline for the DAFM and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland is four weeks in advance of the stated AFRI deadline for the respective programme area priority in AFRI’s Foundation Competitive Grant Programme.
The thirteen research areas in the call and the respective DAFM/DAERA and AFRI deadlines in 2024 are:
Programme area priority in AFRI 2024 RFA DAFM/DAERA deadline AFRI deadline Pests and beneficial species in agricultural production Systems (A1112) 22/08/2024 19/09/2024 Animal nutrition, growth, and lactation (A1231) 11/07/2024 08/08/2024 Welfare of agricultural animals (A1251) 11/07/2024 08/08/2024 Diseases of agricultural animals (A1221) 11/07/2024 08/08/2024 Animal breeding, genetics, and genomics (A1201) 11/07/2024 08/08/2024 Mitigating antimicrobial resistance across the food chain (A1366) 22/08/2024 19/09/2024 Soil health (A1401) 15/08/2024 12/09/2024 Sustainable bioeconomy through biobased products (A1414) 08/08/2024 05/09/2024 Sustainable agroecosystems: health, functions, processes and management (A1451) 15/08/2024 12/09/2024 Biorefining and biomanufacturing (A1531) 05/09/2024 03/10/2024 Agricultural microbiomes in plant systems and natural resources (A1402) 05/09/2024 03/10/2024 Data science for food and agricultural systems (DSFAS) (A1541) 17/10/2024 14/11/2024 Inter-disciplinary engagement in animal systems (IDEAS) (A1261) 05/09/2024 03/10/2024
The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) is the leading competitive grants program for agricultural sciences in the US.
Since 2016, the scope of the partnership has included agriculture whereby researchers in eligible institutions in Ireland and Northern Ireland can link with a US-based researcher to submit research funding applications to annual calls launched by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
The department’s funding of successful projects under the US-Ireland research and development partnership calls comes from the department’s competitive research programme.