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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of the P3-People, Prosperity and the Planet Award Program, is seeking applications proposing to research, develop, and design solutions to real world challenges involving the overall sustainability of human society. The P3 competition highlights the use of scientific principles in creating innovative projects focused on sustainability. The P3 Award program was developed to foster progress toward sustainability by achieving the mutual goals of improved quality of life, economic prosperity and protection of the planet -- people, prosperity, and the planet - the three pillars of sustainability. The EPA offers the P3 competition in order to respond to the technical needs of the world while moving towards the goal of sustainability. Please see the P3 website for more details about this program.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of the P3-People, Prosperity and the Planet Award Program, is seeking applications proposing to research, develop, and design solutions to real world challenges involving the overall sustainability of human society. The P3 competition highlights the use of scientific principles in creating innovative projects focused on sustainability. The P3 Award program was developed to foster progress toward sustainability by achieving the mutual goals of improved quality of life, economic prosperity and protection of the planet -- people, prosperity, and the planet - the three pillars of sustainability. The EPA offers the P3 competition in order to respond to the technical needs of the world while moving towards the goal of sustainability. Please see the P3 website for more details about this program.

The goal of the Energy for Sustainability program is to support fundamental engineering research that will enable innovative processes for the sustainable production of electricity and fuels, and for energy storage. Processes for sustainable energy production must be environmentally benign, reduce greenhouse gas production, and utilize renewable resources. Research projects that stress molecular level understanding of phenomena that directly impacts key barriers to improved system level performance (e.g. energy efficiency, product yield, process intensification) are encouraged. Proposed research should be inspired by the need for economic and impactful conversion processes. All proposals should include in the project description, how the proposed work, if successful, will improve process realization and economic feasibility and compare the proposed work against current state-of-the-art. Highly integrated multidisciplinary projects are encouraged.

The goal of this Activity is to facilitate the economic recovery of select crisis-affected communities in North-Eastern Nigeria. The purpose is to bolster the three state governments' capacities to create and sustain enabling environments for the Small Town Water Supply and Sanitation Agencies (STWSSA) and Water Consumer Associations (WCA) operators, and for these service provision agencies to increase their capacities to sustainably provide essential WASH services. This Activity will: ● increase access to water and sanitation services in order to reduce illnesses and child mortality, and to sustain health outcomes; and ● Strengthen local WASH institutions including STWSSAs and WCAs to sustain WASH services.

The P3 competition highlights the use of scientific principles in creating innovative projects focused on sustainability. The P3 Award program was developed to foster progress toward sustainability by achieving the mutual goals of improved quality of life, economic prosperity and protection of the planet -- people, prosperity, and the planet - the three pillars of sustainability. 

This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) seeks opportunities to co-create, co-design, co-invest, and collaborate in the research, development, piloting, testing, and scaling of innovative, practical and cost-effective interventions that address development challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) invites interested parties to participate with USAID to identify innovative thinking, best practices and promising programs that will create more strategic, focused, results-oriented, cost-effective and practical options that will further the US Government's goal of improving the impact of its policies and programs on Africa's poor. USAID, through the Bureau for Africa (USAID/AFR), aims to develop and test innovative, sustainable and cost-effective solutions that will accelerate progress towards eliminating extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. This BAA specifically seeks to incorporate new ideas that will directly and positively influence USAID's programs and policies, including, but not limited to, support for SSA institutions to deliver services and manage programs that contribute to sustainable development.

This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) seeks opportunities to co-create, co-design, co-invest, and collaborate in the research, development, piloting, testing, and scaling of innovative, practical and cost-effective interventions that address development challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) invites interested parties to participate with USAID to identify innovative thinking, best practices and promising programs that will create more strategic, focused, results-oriented, cost-effective and practical options that will further the US Government's goal of improving the impact of its policies and programs on Africa's poor. USAID, through the Bureau for Africa (USAID/AFR), aims to develop and test innovative, sustainable and cost-effective solutions that will accelerate progress towards eliminating extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. This BAA specifically seeks to incorporate new ideas that will directly and positively influence USAID's programs and policies, including, but not limited to, support for SSA institutions to deliver services and manage programs that contribute to sustainable development.

This AU$3 million challenge calls for innovators, entrepreneurs, designers, NGOs and academics to rethink advances in aquaculture to provide solutions that ensure both sustainable development and environmental sustainability.

The Hazard Mitigation and Structural Engineering (HMSE) program supports fundamental research to mitigate impacts of natural and anthropogenic hazards on civil infrastructure and to advance the reliability, resiliency, and sustainability of buildings and other structures. Hazards considered within the program include earthquake, tsunami, hurricane, tornado and other loads, as well as explosive and impact loading. Resiliency of buildings and other structures include structural and non-structural systems that, in totality, permit continued occupation or operation in case of an impact by a hazard. Research is encouraged that integrates structural and architectural engineering advances with discoveries in other science and engineering fields, such as earth and atmospheric sciences, material science, mechanics of materials, sensor technology, high performance computational modeling and simulation, dynamic system and control, and economics. The program seeks to fund transformative and cost-effective innovations for hazard mitigation of both new and rehabilitated buildings and other structures. Research in structural and architectural engineering is encouraged that extends beyond mature or current construction materials into investigations of smart and sustainable materials and technologies, and considers the structures in their entirety. In addition, the program funds research on structural health monitoring that goes beyond data acquisition to include the holistic system, integrating condition assessment and decision making tools to improve structural performance

The purpose of the Aquaculture Research program is to support the development of an environmentally and economically sustainable aquaculture industry in the U.S. and generate new science-based information and innovation to address industry constraints. Over the long term, results of projects supported by this program may help improve the profitability of the U.S. aquaculture industry, reduce the U.S. trade deficit, increase domestic food security, provide markets for U.S.-produced grain products, increase domestic aquaculture business investment opportunities, and provide more jobs for rural and coastal America. The Aquaculture Research program will fund projects that directly address major constraints to the U.S. aquaculture industry and focus on one or more of the following program priorities: (1) genetics of commercial aquaculture species; (2) critical disease issues impacting aquaculture species; (3) design of environmentally and economically sustainable aquaculture production systems; and (4) economic research for increasing aquaculture profitability.

For this grant period, consideration will be given to project proposals focusing on the following themes: · Regional and Trans-Atlantic Cooperation · Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Economic Reform, Promotion of Trade, Women in STEAM · International Security, Counter Terrorism, and Defense Issues · Energy Security and Diversification · Digitalization, Cyber Security, and Artificial Intelligence · Countering Corruption, Good Governance, Strengthening Rule of Law, and Transparency · Independent Media and Investigative Journalism · Human Rights (to include tolerance, respect for diversity, and support for historically marginalized communities.) · Youth Engagement, Volunteerism, and Active Citizenship · Environmental Preservation and Sustainability What are we looking for in a proposal? · Programs that build and enhance relationships between Slovenia and the United States through bilateral cooperation, highlight shared values, and promote mutual understanding. · Sustainable projects with strong merit and clearly defined goals and outcomes. · Projects that include acknowledgement of U.S. Embassy support and a plan to amplify our cooperation via traditional or digital media.

The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), U.S. Department of Labor announces the availability of approximately $4 million total costs for up to two cooperative agreements of up to $2 million total costs each to fund technical assistance project(s) in two different countries to improve implementation of social compliance systems that promote acceptable conditions of work and the elimination of child labor and forced labor in coffee supply chains. Each cooperative agreement will fund a project in one of the following countries in the Latin America/Caribbean region, where DOL's List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor (TVPRA List) documents child labor and/or forced labor concerns: Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, or Nicaragua. Project outcomes include: 1) Adoption of a robust and sustainable social compliance system by private sector stakeholders in coffee supply chains; 2) Strengthened capacity of private sector stakeholders to implement a robust and sustainable social compliance system in coffee supply chains; and 3) New social compliance tools on child labor, forced labor, and acceptable conditions of work piloted in the coffee supply chain. The duration of the project will be a maximum of 4 years (48 months) from the effective date of the award. Applicants may apply for one or two of the cooperative agreements listed above. No more than two applications per applicant will be accepted. If applying for two cooperative agreements, applicants should not combine countries in a single application, but must submit separate applications for each country. Each application should request no more than $2 million total costs in funding.

Growing Convergence Research (GCR) at the National Science Foundation was identified as one of 10 Big Ideas. Convergence research is a means for solving vexing research problems, in particular, complex problems focusing on societal needs. It entails integrating knowledge, methods, and expertise from different disciplines and forming novel frameworks to catalyze scientific discovery and innovation. GCR identifies Convergence Research as having two primary characteristics: Research driven by a specific and compelling problem. Convergence Research is generally inspired by the need to address a specific challenge or opportunity, whether it arises from deep scientific questions or pressing societal needs. Deep integration across disciplines. As experts from different disciplines pursue common research challenges, their knowledge, theories, methods, data, research communities and languages become increasingly intermingled or integrated. New frameworks, paradigms or even disciplines can form sustained interactions across multiple communities. A distinct characteristic of convergence research, in contrast to other forms of multidisciplinary research, is that from the inception, the convergence paradigm intentionally brings together intellectually diverse researchers and stakeholders to frame the research questions, develop effective ways of communicating across disciplines and sectors, adopt common frameworks for their solution, and, when appropriate, develop a new scientific vocabulary. Research teams practicing convergence aim at developing sustainable relationships that may not only create solutions to the problem that engendered the collaboration, but also develop novel ways of framing related research questions and open new research vistas.

To study the challenges targeted in this call, both inter- and transdisciplinary approaches that enable researchers to address the interconnections and interdependencies between natural and human systems, as well as between science and society, are needed. This programme has two major objectives: - To develop understanding of and promote research on transformations to sustainability which are of significant social, economic and policy concern throughout the world and of great relevance to both academics and stakeholders. - To build capacity, overcome fragmentation and have a lasting impact on both society and the research landscape by cultivating durable research collaboration across multiple borders, disciplinary boundaries, and with practitioners and societal partners. This includes facilitating the development of new research collaborations with parts of the world which are not often involved in large-scale international research efforts, notably low- and middle-income countries.

Grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded to local nonprofit organizations located within the service area of individual Walmart stores in the areas of hunger relief and healthy eating, health and human services, quality of life, education, community and economic development, diversity and inclusion, public safety, and environmental sustainability.

The Ohio State University Subsurface Energy Resource Center (SERC) was established to advance and disseminate our understanding of energy from underground sources and the intertwined environmental and socioeconomic issues. The current pace and scope of subsurface energy development require an integrated research approach to encourage the safe and sustainable harvesting and usage of subsurface resources. In order to promote and facilitate cross-disciplinary research and collaboration at OSU, SERC is seeking applications from OSU faculty and research staff for seed grant funding.  The total expected budget is $30,000 for FY2016, from which we will seek to fund a few proposals that are expected to leverage the SERC Seed Grants into a high return to the university.  Some example metrics for this return include the development of online courses, publication of review papers that establish avenues for future research, submission of proposals for competitive funding sources, and funding obtained from proposals that were generated in part from seed funds.  Proposals that demonstrate cross-campus integration and have a diversity of departmental and institutional affiliations will be evaluated highly. Cost share is not required, but it will be considered in the applications.

The objective of this research is to develop guidance (tools, procedures, and policies) for identifying, evaluating, and communicating multimodal transportation investment right-sizing scenarios.  Although agencies are generally equipped to assess investment strategies, sufficient guidance is not readily available on how to identify and assess right-sizing or disinvestment scenarios in ways that clearly explain decisions associated with resource tradeoffs and constraints and how these decisions impact overall system resilience and sustainability.  Outcomes of this research should enable agencies to answer questions such as, "Why are we spending more or less on (or eliminating) a given asset; and why is that a good decision given the functional requirements of the broader transportation system"? 

 Within this general framework, ARPA-E seeks transformative ideas that enable the most efficient, economical, sustainable, and environmentally benign conversion of energy while minimizing exergy destruction.

Grants will fund projects related to the Waitt Foundation mission of supporting sustainable fishing and marine protected areas (MPAs). This includes sub-themes of: Scientific Research - Includes natural science or social science projects. For example, collecting baseline data before coastal development or MPA establishment, or studying fishery effects of a natural (e.g. tsunami) or man-made (e.g. oil spill) disaster. Policy - Includes opportunistic projects around unique public policy windows, such as preparation of policy analysis and support of experts' efforts to inform decision makers on upcoming government actions. For example, a cost-benefit analysis of proposed fishing regulations, or travel expenses for a delegation of scientists to educate elected officials. Management - Includes enforcement and infrastructure support. For example, stop-gap funding to increase enforcement capacity in light of a sudden uptick in illegal dynamite fishing, or training personnel to enforce new regulations about to go into effect. Communications - Includes raising public awareness and engaging stakeholders, including advertising by a 501(c)3 group around a public policy moment. For example, a PR blitz (e.g. billboards or radio adds) to educate the public in advance of government action on an ocean conservation measure, or training local people to become citizen scientists or enforcement tipsters.

EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Chemistry, Economic and Sustainable Strategies Division oversees the Pollution Prevention (P2) Grant Program to support State and Tribal P2 Programs administer P2 projects that will help businesses identify better environmental strategies and solutions for reducing or eliminating waste at the source. EPA anticipates it will award approximately $7.94 million in federal P2 grant funding ($3.97 million in FY 2016 and $3.97 million in FY 2017) to support two-year grant agreements. Grants will be awarded and managed by EPA's ten Regional P2 Program Offices. P2 grants are dependent on Congressional appropriation and the quality of proposals received.

USAID/Middle East is making a special call for the submission of Concept Papers focused on the Middle East Water Security Initiative (MWSI). The goal of the MWSI is to improve sustainable, long-term access to water for up to 20 million people living in the Middle East. The MWSI will target Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, West Bank/Gaza, and Yemen and promote sharing of best practices and lessons learned among the five participating countries. To achieve its bold but doable goal, MWSI will engage both international and local actors from the private sector, civil society, public sector, and other organizations to (a) support dynamic young entrepreneurs, researchers, and consumers with opportunities to develop, test, scale-up and market "water-smart" technologies; and (b) increase awareness of and local ability to address water security challenges in the Middle East through behavior change and advocacy campaigns.