Millions available for R&D
A sustainable aquaculture workshop held at Strathclyde University last week as part of the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTS) annual science meeting included a valuable insight into funding opportunities.
The event was organised by Dr James Deverill, director of Research and Innovation at the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC), and the principle subject of his own talk – and of the whole morning’s session – was the funding available for aquaculture research, not least the £7m that SAIC has “to ideally invest in the next 18 months or so”, including “a huge push on sea lice-related research in the next six months.”
However, he was also keen to emphasise that other routes to funding are available, bringing in a number of people from outside the aquaculture industry, to help illustrate “the possible synergies and cross pollination of ideas” that come from interacting with other sectors.
Amongst the morning’s other speakers was Dr David Telford of the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), who explained the network’s ability to help researchers secure funding and mentioned how the UK government has £170 million available for agri-tech sector research, including a £70m agri-tech catalyst fund.
More specifically, he mentioned a number of forthcoming funding competitions – such as £2m being available for projects looking into developing “materials for demanding environments”, with applications open until November 18th.
He also mentioned that BBSRC & NERC are due to invest £6m in sustainable aquaculture initiatives over the next three years and will be holding a workshop in London on December 8th for those interested in finding out more about how to apply.
