NERC, the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC), are announcing a major new joint investment as part of the Valuing Nature Programme. This will provide an opportunity for natural and social scientists, arts and humanities researchers to form substantial interdisciplinary research collaborations (with relevant reference to health sciences), to increase understanding of the role and value of biodiversity and ecosystem processes in relation to human health and wellbeing.
The focus of the call will be on understanding the value of the UK’s natural environment for human health (physical and mental) and wellbeing within and across the following three areas:
- natural hazards and extreme weather events
- human exposure to pathogens and aquatic toxins
- urban ecosystems.
As a part of the call proposals should seek to combine different approaches, expertise, methods and/or data to explore cross-cutting themes such as:
- historical, spatial and temporal dynamics of value
- cultural and social contexts of value
- optimising value through evidence-informed design of interventions.
A funding pot of up to £3·96m (80% FEC) from NERC, AHRC and ESRC is available, which is expected to support between three and six interdisciplinary proposals of up to three years duration.
Applicants should refer to the full Announcement of Opportunity for further details.
Announcement of Opportunity (PDF, 237KB)
Call closes: 22 September 2015
Contacts
For further information about this Announcement of Opportunity, please contact:
Victoria Fairweather
01793 411736
valuingnature@nerc.ac.uk