Proposals
Proposal deadlines:
15 January: Magellan3 Workshop Proposals
31 January: Scientific Ocean Drilling & SPARC Proposals
1 July: Scientific Ocean Drilling & Land-to-Sea Proposals
15 July: Magellan3 Workshop Proposals (1 September in 2025)
Scientific Ocean Drilling and Land-to-Sea Drilling Proposals
IODP3 drilling proposals contain hypothesis-driven science addressing the vision provided by the 2050 Science Framework, and frequently involve collaborations between international researchers from the multiple geoscience disciplines. Proposals can target any offshore environment, using the flexibility of the Mission Specific Platform approach of selecting appropriate drilling/coring technologies and platforms to achieve proposed drilling objectives, including use of the riserless/riser drilling capabilities of the D/V Chikyu.
Lead proponents need not be from an IODP3 member country. Because proposals will not result in a financial arrangement (contract) with the proponent's institution, they are submitted by individual investigators and not through their institutions. Land-to-Sea drilling proposals are those with scientific objectives requiring drilling both onshore and offshore/shallow marine sites. They are jointly implemented by IODP3 and the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP).
Proposals may be submitted via the IODP3 Gateway at any time, but are evaluated after two deadlines each year (31 January and 1 July). Note that full proposals for Land-to-Sea drilling projects submitted to IODP3 will only be evaluated after the July deadline (and that Land-to-Sea preliminary and workshop proposals are submitted to ICDP, not IODP3). Calls for drilling proposals released via Announcements on the IODP3 homepage acts as reminders of these deadlines.
The deadline for submitting site characterisation data to support drilling proposals is one month after the proposal submission deadline. Proposed drill sites must be supported by site characterisation data that builds confidence that targets are correctly identified, achievable, and safe.
Drilling proposals are peer-reviewed by the Science Evaluation Panel (SEP). SEP typically meets in the Spring and Autumn and the outcomes of reviews are sent to lead proponents by the IODP3 Science Office within one month. SEP forwards the very best proposals to the MSP Facility Board (MSP-FB) to consider for scheduling by one of the IODP3 Science Operators.
Throughout the proposal development and evaluation process, proponents, SEP and the MSP-FB will also receive advice from the Safety and Environment Advisory Group (SEA Group) regarding potential safety and environmental issues associated with proposed drill sites.
Detailed guidance on drilling proposal requirements is found in the link below.
Scientific Projects using Ocean Drilling Archives (SPARCs)
The IODP3 SPARCs initiative supports large-scale research projects that may address any aspect of the 2050 Science Framework. However, it particularly encourages the development of ambitious projects that contribute to the Flagship Initiatives defined in the 2050 Science Framework.
SPARCs should use legacy assets (core, samples and data) collected previously by ocean drilling to address globally significant processes/problems. They should adopt innovative, creative, and multidisciplinary approaches to, for example, the production of large new datasets, integration of data across multiple expeditions, and/or the application of new methods or technologies not available when the legacy assets were collected.
SPARC proposals may be submitted via the IODP3 Gateway at any time, but are evaluated by SEP during its Spring meeting after a single annual submission deadline on 31 January. SEP may either endorse or decline SPARC proposals. Declined proposals may be improved using SEP feedback and resubmitted to a subsequent annual round. SEP-endorsed SPARC proposals are considered for funding by the MSP-FB, and those not selected for immediate implementation will be considered in subsequent rounds. The number of SPARCs that can be funded each year will depend on available programmatic budgets.
Detailed guidance on SPARC proposal requirements is found in the link below.
Magellan3 workshop Proposals
The Magellan3 Workshop Series Programme (MG3) supports the development of new and innovative IODP3 offshore drilling and SPARC proposals to meet future challenges in Earth, life and environmental sciences, and operates jointly with the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program. (ICDP).
MG3 workshop proposals should address the ambitions of the 2050 Science Framework (and the ICDP Science Plan 2020-2030 in the case of Land-to-Sea proposals). They should outline how they will aid the development of one or more future offshore, Land-to-Sea or SPARC proposals.
Proposals must be submitted by the lead proponent as a single PDF file via the IODP3 Gateway system. Proposals may be submitted at any time but will be evaluated following the next submission deadline. There are two deadlines annually on 15 January and 15 July.
The members of the MG3-SSC review all workshop proposals received by each submission deadline. Proposals are either approved for funding, declined or placed on-hold. Proponents of proposals on-hold are given the opportunity to adjust their proposals (within a timescale of a few months) using feedback from the MG3-SSC, for subsequent re-evaluation.
Detailed guidance on MG3 proposal requirements is found in the link below.