*** The closing date for this opportunity has been brought forward. The previous deadline of 21 January has been brought forward to 12 January 2021. All other call details remain unchanged. *** The Natural Environment Research Council, under its discovery science programme, invites applications for its standard research grants. These support pure, applied, technology-led or policy-driven environmental research. Research should be driven by curiosity rather than by NERC’s wider strategic priorities and must address clearly defined scientific questions. Adventurous research, multidisciplinary research and collaborations with international and non-academic partners are encouraged. There are two calls under this category: standard grants and standard grants for new investigators. The PI must be resident in the UK and be employed by a UK HEI, research council institute or a recognised independent research organisation at lecturer level or above, or have a formal arrangement that allows them to carry out research there. Holders of research fellowships from the research councils and university research fellowships from the Royal Society are eligible. Fellowships awarded by other funders are also eligible as long as the fellowship has a status equating to that of at least lecturer level and has been secured in open competition. Applicants for the new investigator grant must also be within five years of first becoming eligible for NERC funding as a PI, and must not have received competitive research funding from any source as a PI that included postdoctoral research assistant staff support costs. Co-investigators are expected to meet the same eligibility criteria as PIs. Applicants should choose the most appropriate of three panels to assess their proposal. Grants are worth up to £800,000 each. In exceptional cases, applicants may contact NERC to request permission to submit a standard grant proposal that exceeds the maximum funding limit.

Website: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/available/researchgrants/standard/