Sustainable Accessibility of the Randstad

The DBR research programme focuses on the future with a time horizon of over 30 years. The programme concentrates on the internal and external accessibility of the Randstad, including the main ports and cities, for people, goods and information flows. Researchers are challenged, in interuniversity research proposals, to outline their vision concerning accessibility issues in about the year 2040 and their possible solutions for this. These proposals should clearly explain how the results from the proposed study can contribute to tackling the accessibility issues stated.

The key questions from the research programme are: Which gaps in knowledge become apparent from the perspective of the future scenario sketched? And how can these gaps be filled? How exactly is the accessibility of the Randstad defined and quantified from a network perspective? To what extent and how will the internal and external accessibility of the Randstad be affected by climate change, the future availability and management of water, and energy transition? How can a no-regret policy be implemented in the short term given the considerable uncertainty regarding the future?

The third DBR funding round has the theme "Harmonising spatial development and accessibility". In this round, it will also be possible to do field research in the form of two cases studies within the North corridor (Greater Amsterdam) and the South Corridor of the Randstad.

Who can apply

A grant proposal can be submitted on behalf of a consortium by a full or assistant professor employed at a Dutch university. In particular, full and assistant professors in the fields of spatial planning with an affinity for mobility and transport experts with an affinity for spatial planning are invited to submit a proposal. However other disciplines, such as public administration researchers with an affinity for planning, can form part of a consortium.

A consortium consists of 2 or 3 collaborating university research groups in the Netherlands, the researcher leaders of which should have a convincing track record in the area of transit-oriented development (TOD).

What can be applied for

Funding can be requested for research programmes consisting of three projects, for which postdocs and junior researchers can be appointed, and the associated material credit. A maximum of 550,000 euros can be requested per proposal. Direct government funding is expected to cover the costs of proper supervision for the researchers who are appointed to the programmes that are funded as well the usual overheads associated with carrying out research.

When can be applied

• Closing date for submitting Letters of Intent (LOIs), i.e. preliminary proposals, was 8 September 2011, 12:00 hrs
• Closing date for submitting full proposals was 14 November 2011, 12:00 hrs

The submission of an LOI is compulsory! Failure to submit an LOI means you will not be able to submit a full proposal.

Extra Information

The DBR programme has two successive rounds for the submission of grant applications for scientific research programmes. The first round in July 2008 has resulted in the funding of 4 research projects. A second round has started at the end of 2008.

The application should lead to one or more high-quality scientific publications by the person(s) who intend(s) to carry out the research. In addition to scientific publications, professional publications, popular scientific contributions and documents with policy recommendations are clearly considered to constitute the results of the study. If is vital that the results also benefit the cofunding government departments (Ministry of Transport and Public Works, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality), decentralised government bodies and other possible users through, for example, study days, workshops or congresses. This aspect will also be considered in the assessment of the proposals.

Criteria

The proposals will be assessed using the following evaluation criteria for scientific objectives, absolute quality, relevance to policy and society, and organisational aspects. All four sets of criteria will count in the evaluation.

Procedure

The submission of a Letter of Intent (LOI) is compulsory. From the perspective of efficiency and for logistical reasons the programme committee will advise the programme leaders who have submitted proposals with the least chance of success not to elaborate their proposals further. Per case a maximum of 2 or 3 submitters of LOIs will be asked to produce full proposals.

The full proposals will be assessed by an international ad hoc committee of external experts using the criteria relevance to society and policy, scientific objectives, scientific quality, and organisation and finance. The applicant will be sent the advices and requested to give a rebuttal. The advice and rebuttal will be submitted to the Programme Committee who will rank the proposals for the Supervisory Board.

Committees

The programme has a Programme Committee (PC), an ad hoc committee of external experts and a Supervisory Board (SB). The PC is responsible for the coordination and coherency of the programme, evaluates its progress and sets the budget for the DBR programme as a whole. The PC is furthermore responsible for ranking the proposals based on the programmatic and qualitative criteria. This can follow the outcome of the external experts. The PC must stimulate the facilitation of the dissemination of knowledge to users. The SB allocates the funding based on the advice of the PC and supervises the realisation of the DBR research programme.

Budget

The DBR programme has a budget of more than 10.5 million euros for a period of 6 years. For the third funding round more than 1 million euros are available.

Financiers

The DBR programme is sponsored by ministeries of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (from the second round onwards) and NWO.

Contacts

• drs. H.W. Waaijers
  phone: +31 (0)70 344 09 13, e-mail: h.waaijers@nwo.nl