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Home News EPA announces €10.5 million funding for research to support the development and implementation of environmental policies in Ireland

EPA announces €10.5 million funding for research to support the development and implementation of environmental policies in Ireland

The EPA is seeking proposals from the research community to help address climate change and other emerging and complex environmental problems.

With up to €10.5 million available for new research projects, the funding will be provided under four themes:

Addressing climate change evidence needs
Facilitating a green and circular economy
Delivering a healthy environment
Protecting and restoring our natural environment.

EPA-funded Research is essential to improving national understanding of our environment, the challenges it faces and responses to these challenges. The EPA Research Programme funds research that addresses knowledge gaps and provides the evidence base to inform policy as well as supporting the implementation of environmental policies in Ireland
Laura Burke, EPA Director General

The EPA Research Programme is a Government of Ireland initiative funded by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. This Research Call highlights the importance of a clean, healthy and well-protected environment for our health, wellbeing and quality of life. It is designed to support the development and implementation of environmental policies in Ireland.

Innovative research proposals are invited in response to 46 research topics. The new research projects are expected to start in late 2021/early 2022 and will range from 12-month to multi-annual research projects. This Research Call is competitive, and we expect to be assessing many high-quality submissions from the research community.
We are delighted to be working in partnership with a number of organisations, including the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; the Department of Transport; the Geological Survey of Ireland and the Office of the Planning Regulator, to address key environmental challenges
Dr Alice Wemaere, EPA Research Manager

As part of its wide range of functions the EPA manages an environmental research programme that delivers essential scientific support for environmental policy development, implementation and broader decision making. The EPA has been funding research in Ireland since 1994 and is currently funding more than 200 on-going research projects.

Further details about the 2021 EPA Research Call are available on the EPA website.

About author

EPA Catchments Unit

Administrator

The EPA Catchments Unit is based in Dublin, and the team is involved with catchment science, chemistry, ecology, hydromorphology, modelling, Geographic Information Systems and planning. We work with the wider EPA, all of our local authorities, the Local Authority Waters and Communities Office, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, and other public bodies and Departments to ensure we have the best available data and information about our catchments.

Who is involved?
Quite simply, everyone in Ireland has a role to play. This can be from something as simple as making sure you don’t pollute your local stream, or a local community working together to establish a Rivers Trust to enhance the rivers and lakes in their area, to a Government Department or Agency helping a Minister implement a new policy to help protect and enhance all our water bodies.

This website has been developed and is maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency, and is a collaboration between the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Local Authority Waters Programme.

Local Authority Waters Programme

The Local Authority Waters Programme coordinates the efforts of local authorities and other public bodies in the implementation of the River Basin Management Plan, and supports local community and stakeholder involvement in managing our natural waters, for everyone’s benefit.

Environmental Protection Agency

The EPA is responsible for coordinating the monitoring, assessment and reporting on the status of our 4,842 water bodies, looking at trends and changes, determining which waterbodies are at risk and what could be causing this, and drafting environmental objectives for each.

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The Department is responsible for making sure that the right policies, regulations and resources are in place to implement the Water Framework Directive, and developing a River Basin Management Plan and Programme of Measures to protect and restore our waters.