Grants: iSEE requests proposals for interdisciplinary research projects

UPDATE: A reminder that the deadline is Feb. 1 for pre-proposals (“white papers” of no more than three pages) for 2015 iSEE seed funding!

The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) is making a Request for Proposals for 2015 seed grants to launch interdisciplinary, thematic research projects.

Pre-proposals should outline projects that address a global problem within one of iSEE’s themes:

icon-solar Climate Solutions

icon-energy Energy Transitions

icon-building Sustainable Infrastructure

icon-water Water and Land Stewardship

icon-nature Secure and Sustainable Agriculture

Among the information the pre-proposal should include is addressing the strengths of the proposed interdisciplinary research team.

The Institute, which will fund new research with up to $400,000 over a three-year span, encourages proposals in the Climate Solutions and Sustainable Infrastructure themes and also welcomes proposed projects that touch more than one theme. The proposal process opens Nov. 14, 2014; two more seed grants will be announced in early June 2015.

Interested applicants were able to find out more about the 2015 call for proposals at the Nov. 20 Town Hall meeting. Anyone with further questions is encouraged to email the Institute.

The Institute funds what it calls “actionable research” — to find lasting solutions to urgent, real-world issues. In 2014, it funded three such projects: Smart Water Disinfection; Woody Polyculture; and Stored Solar Stove. To read the announcement in June 2014, in which more than $940,000 was awarded, click here.

More links:

The full RFP

A timeline for the proposal and approval process

— Tony Mancuso, iSEE Communications and Public Affairs Coordinator