Northeast Consortium Project Development Funds will provide up to $25,000 per project to test the feasibility of an idea, try out new gear, or otherwise lay the groundwork for a new project. The Northeast Consortium has reserved $200,000 in Cooperative Research and $200,000 in Right Whale Research funds for these types of efforts. These funds will be awarded based on short Letter Proposals.
The reason for this new type of funding is that the Northeast Consortium received a number of Cooperative Research proposals that described a really good idea or an innovative new approach to an important problem that were not recommended for funding. The reasons were usually poor project design, poor proposal preparation, or no evidence that the project could work. In some cases, there was no (or not sufficient) science - industry partnership - an important criterion for the Northeast Consortium. In order to encourage these good ideas and increase the likelihood of future funding for the project, the Northeast Consortium will make available a new type of funding for pilot projects, new ideas or approaches, and/or new gear designs.
The Northeast Consortium also received an unexpectedly small number of proposals in the area of whale-friendly fishing gear. The lack of good new ideas and technical approaches was very concerning. The Northeast Consortium decided that some means should be made available for fishermen and/or researchers to try new ideas, without the need for preliminary data. Thus, the Northeast Consortium will use the Project Development Funds to encourage fishermen (in particular) to try out a new idea, a new gear design, or a new approach to the problem of right whale entanglement.
Length: Letter Proposals should be about 2 pages long (if they are typed, single spaced) and no more than 5 pages long (typed, single spaced), excluding the additional information requested on budgets and project participants.
Budget information: A brief budget should be included with explanations of each line item.
Project Participants: All participants should be named with brief (one paragraph) explanations of each person's relevant experience and role in the project.
Duration: In general, funds should be requested for projects lasting one year or less. Exceptions to this guideline can be made for special cases.
Submission: Letter Proposals must be received by 4:30 pm on Monday, September 10th. Letters received after this time and date will not be considered.
Letter Proposals may be sent to:
Letters may be faxed to: 603-862-7006
Letters may be sent via email to: Laurinda.Smith@unh.edu
This information is also available on the Northeast Consortium website, www.NortheastConsortium.org.