Opportunity profile: NERC digs into transatlantic soils

The Signals in the Soil call is a unique multidisciplinary call bringing together UK and US funding to define and monitor soil health. NERC’s head of research for terrestrial sciences, Simon Kerley, explains its rationale to Ben Upton.

Simon’s top tips

• Projects must be genuine collaborations with a 50:50 split in effort between researchers in America and Britain.
• Ensure top PIs in each country are familiar with the requirements for their respective teams.
• The funders do not expect a project that will cover soil health monitoring from A to Z, but hope to build a portfolio of projects that investigate specific aspects of the topic.

Signals in the Soil offers up to £800,000 for UK-based researchers and up to $800,000 (£609,000) for US-based researchers, for collaborative projects of up to three years’ duration to aid development and use of soil sensors. While funding is awarded separately to teams in the UK and the United States, they should submit a single bid. The call closes on 15 May.