Planetary Boundaries Fresh Water Cycle

Worldwide, water is vitally important for society. It is indispensable for life on Earth and for virtually all human activities. Water is an essential natural resource and an environmental factor with many facets, such as water scarcity and floods, the role in ecology, energy supply, drinking water and agriculture.

On a global level, increasing attention is being paid to the use of freshwater and the boundaries to which this is subject. In Rockström et al. (Nature, 2009) suggestions are made for such global boundaries on freshwater use with the connotation that a lot of supporting research is still needed in this area. Further, internationally organised foresight studies point to gaps in our knowledge about the role of water in the global climate system, for example with respect to continental drought, extreme precipitation and the water situation in the troposphere and stratosphere.

In the Netherlands water is increasingly playing a leading role in spatial planning but there are still considerable gaps in our knowledge of various areas, such as the hydrological behaviour of river deltas, rainfall runoff processes and the behaviour of catchment areas under extreme conditions.

NWO has therefore written a call for research in the area of Planetary Boundaries Freshwater Cycle. Applicants are requested to pay particular attention to how the research contributes to the determination of worldwide boundaries for freshwater use.

The research should fit within the following themes:

1. improving the predictability of climate variability in relation to the water cycle;
2. determining the hydrological behaviour of river deltas in relation to safety; and
3. uncertainties in the freshwater supply in agriculture.

Who can apply

Researchers from Dutch universities, NWO and KNAW institutes. Staff from other research institutes can submit applications if in NWO’s opinion the following criteria are satisfied: the institute is located in the Netherlands; the institute has an independent research branch; the institute has a not-for-profit status; in the research for which a grant is requested, the institute collaborates with a university, which is apparent from a personnel or material contribution to the research from the university, and the researchers enjoy freedom of publication in the international scientific literature.

What can be applied for

A grant can be requested for the appointment of PhDs (4 years) or postdocs (3 years) on the basis of the established remunerations between NWO and VSNU (www.nwo.nl/nwohome.nsf/pages/NWOP_67NEJM, in Dutch), and specific costs reasonably related to the research, such as material facilities (equipment, consumables, travel costs, etc.) and fieldwork, which do not fall under the standard facilities of the institution. A maximum of € 250,000 can be applied for per proposal.

When can be applied

• Closing date for the submission of applications was 3 September 2010

Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated for relevance to the objectives of this call, originality and innovative character, and the scientific quality of the research proposed and of the research group.

Procedure

The admissible proposals will be submitted to national or foreign subject referees. Applicants can state which referees are not considered suitable for evaluating the proposal (‘non-referees’, maximum two per project). The names of non-referees can be sent to the NWO office.

The evaluations by the subject referees will be anonymised by the NWO office and submitted to the applicants. The applicants will be given the opportunity to submit a written rebuttal, which may be no longer than two pages A4.

Committees

The ALW Divisional Board will appoint an evaluation committee. This committee will discuss the proposals on the basis of the referees’ evaluations and the rebuttals and during a meeting it will issue an evaluation of each proposal in figures with supporting arguments. The evaluation committee will subsequently issue a final prioritisation based on the established differences in quality.

The ALW Divisional Board will take a decision about the allocation of grants based on the advice of the evaluation committee and the available resources.

Budget

A budget of one million euro is available for this call.

Financiers

NWO Division for Earth and Life Sciences

Contacts

• Drs. B.J.H. Westerop (Bernard)
  phone: +31 (0)70 344 06 37, fax: +31 (0)70 381 90 33, e-mail: b.westerop@nwo.nl

Documentation for applying electronically