*Funding opportunity* UK-IODP site survey grants
New UK-IODP funding opportunity available to support the development of IODP3 proposals through the acquisition of site survey data.
The aim of this UK-IODP Site Survey funding opportunity is to maximise development of excellent and innovative UK-led science applications for drilling expeditions by enabling detailed geophysical characterisation of proposed drilling sites, which usually includes a minimum of crossing seismic reflection lines and a range of geology-specific additional observations. Scientists must therefore have submitted a proposal, or pre-proposal, for a drilling expedition to the IODP3 Science Office via the IODP3 Gateway system.
Proposals must be led by a scientist based in a UK organisation eligible for NERC funding, but the funding opportunity is open to research groups and individuals and may include international project partners.
Your application can involve shipborne geophysical site surveys requiring ship time to collect new data or a virtual site survey where support is requested for processing of existing geophysical data (industry, government or academic) to the detail required by IODP3 site characterisation and safety considerations.
Projects may request up to £500,000 for shipborne investigations and £187,500 for virtual investigations, and may last up to 24 months.
Applications that support lower-cost Mission Specific Platform (MSP) expeditions with shallow drilling depth or coring investigations are strongly encouraged as the affordability of drilling proposals to IODP3 is an important consideration in the scheduling of regular expeditions.
This funding opportunity aims to fund a minimum of two grants, at least one of which will be in support of a lower-cost MSP drilling or coring proposal. More grants may be supported if applicants are able to secure partnership co-funding or in-kind contributions (for example, ship time) from other agencies, such as the German Research Foundation (DFG), and potentially industry. You are therefore encouraged to seek international or industrial partnership to support the delivery of your application and maximise synergies and alignment with relevant international projects and programmes.
This opportunity is funded by NERC, and opens on Friday 5 September 2025 09:00 (BST) and closes on Tuesday 14 July 16:00 (BST). For more information please follow the link below.