NERC Call for Ideas

The new NERC Strategic Programme Action Group (SPAG) has been set up to help NERC process and prioritise research ideas so that the best science can be developed in the most appropriate context.

NERC is now inviting ideas for scientific advances that address its strategic societal challenges. An idea in this context should not be considered a proposal for research; it is a suggestion for an environmental issue specifically related to the societal challenges identified in their strategy that could be addressed through an advance in environmental science. The idea needs to describe the environmental issue, how it may address the societal challenges and why it should be considered a priority.

The SPAG will work across disciplines and challenges. SPAG will form an interface between the community and NERC, enabling it to listen to a broad spectrum of research ideas and to merge and refine these into prioritised recommendations for strategic research investment in either Highlight Topics or Strategic Programme Areas. For information on how to develop and submit ideas to the SPAG visit the NERC website.

The UKCCSRC is working to coordinate its members’ ideas so that they can be submitted as a series, with a supporting narrative, to the SPAG.  Ideas will not be submitted as one document but coordinating in this way will allow UKCCSRC members to get an overview of ideas being planned in the CCS landscape and highlight any potential for linkages and synergies. This will also allow us to demonstrate to the SPAG that we are a coordinated community of CCS researchers.

We invite our members to let us know about their ideas before 9am Monday 14th July 2014. We will assess how the different ideas fit together with the objective of ensuring all CCS ideas we’re aware of, are submitted to the SPAG before the end of July 2014. It is expected ideas submitted to the SPAG will be discussed at their second meeting in September 2014.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Ciara O’Connor, Storage Research Group Manager at ciara@ukccsrc.ac.uk.