Opportunity profile: Don’t promise the world on global food call

The latest Global Challenges Research Fund call on agriculture and food offers a rare launchpad for interdisciplinary projects in a critical field, but applicants should not be overambitious, the AHRC’s Thomas Booker tells Sophie Inge.

Thomas’s top tips

• Be clear about how your project will address local challenges—not just in your Official Development Assistance statement but in your impact statement and case for support.
• All bids should propose either new collaborations or genuinely new activities for existing ones.
• Be realistic about what you can achieve within two years.
• There are opportunities for small and larger projects but don’t feel obliged to apply for the upper amounts on either.

The Cultures, Behaviours and Histories of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition call was launched by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in collaboration with the Medical Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Natural Environment Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council under the Global Challenges Research Fund.