BONUS+ Joint Baltic Sea Research Programme  

The Academy of Finland takes part in the joint BONUS+ call of the Baltic Sea states. The priorities of the call particularly focus on the interaction between human activity and the Baltic Sea ecosystem. Special attention and development measures are needed for research that delves into economic and social issues as a basis for the sustainable development of the Baltic Sea.

The aim of the call is to promote research that supports the involvement of an ecosystem-based approach to the management of the state of the Baltic Sea environment. The research should enhance our understanding and predictive capacity about the Baltic Sea ecosystem’s response to impending changes caused by both naturally and human-induced pressures and about linkages between environmental problems and the social and economic dynamics in responding to them. In turn, the research should support formation of the basis for prudent management aimed at safeguarding the sustainable use of the ecosystem’s goods and services.

Research covers the following themes

• Linking Science and Policy
• Understanding Climate Change and Geophysical Forcing
• Combating Eutrophication
• Achieving Sustainable Fisheries
• Protecting Biodiversity
• Preventing Pollution
• Integrating Ecosystem and Society

Priority will be given to projects that link Themes 1 and 7 and that combine different themes in an interdisciplinary manner.

The above themes are described in more detail in the BONUS-169 Science Plan and Implementation Strategy (www.bonusportal.org). The publication can be ordered as a printed version from the BONUS-EEIG Office, Assistant Tiina Tembe (tiina.tembe@bonuseeig.fi).

The Academy of Finland’s Research Council for Biosciences and Environment has reserved a special allocation of a maximum of one million euros for BONUS+ projects coordinated by Finnish researchers which can be expected to have significant impact. In the evaluation of the applications, this will be taken into consideration as a special criterion.

Funding can be applied for by researchers/research teams from universities and research institutes from the Baltic Sea countries contributing to the funding of the programme (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russian Federation and Sweden). All applicants must also meet the application criteria set by their own country. Consortia shall include at least two partners from two different participating countries. Applicants coming from outside the Baltic Sea countries may take part in consortia, but they shall fund 50 per cent of their costs themselves.

Funding for research projects is provided for a maximum of three years. The funds available for the call amount to approximately 23.3 million euros, of which the national funding agencies have allocated a total of about 15.4 million euros and the European Commission about 7.8 million euros.

Application procedure

The application procedure differs from the normal. Applications shall be submitted via the electronic services of BONUS+; they shall not be submitted through the Academy of Finland’s online services.

The BONUS+ call for applications and the evaluation criteria will be published in September 2007 at www.bonusportal.org. This site also provides a link to the electronic services pages at https://proposals.etf.ee/bonus. The language of applications is English.

The application procedure is in two stages. The call for letters of intent opens in September 2007 and the deadline is 28 December 2007. The application deadline is strict. The BONUS+ Steering Committee will decide by the end of February 2008 which projects are asked to submit a full application.