First call for research project proposals

With financial support from Open Philanthropy (https://www.openphilanthropy.org/), the Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling is conducting a two-year project to research and support interventions to the farming, transport and slaughter of fish and other aquatic animals in Asia. As part of this, it is inviting collaborative proposals from academics and others (e.g. NGOs, companies, public and private research institutions, retailers, associations) located in Thailand and Vietnam, for short research projects (6 months duration) which meet the objectives and criteria set out in this call for proposals.

Proposals are invited for research that addresses one of the following objectives:

1. Identify, evaluate or demonstrate the benefits of improvements in farmed fish welfare.

2. To understand current perceptions of farmed fish welfare by different stakeholders and how these are developed and influenced through cultural and media cues.

For guidance it is anticipated that around six projects will be funded for objective (1) and four projects for objective (2) at a funding level of around $20,000 each. However, the Selection Panel will be seeking to make best use of the funds and may approve a high quality project above this guideline, and would certainly consider funding a greater number of smaller projects where these could yield valuable data and insights. There will be a second round of funding launched in late 2023 which will prioritise exploiting successful outcomes from this first round of projects.

Important Dates:

9 February 2023 – Opening of Call for Research Proposals

31 March 2023 – Deadline for submission of applications

14 April 2023 – Preliminary notification of outcome to applicants

5 May 2023 – Target date for finalisation of contract documents and start of research

27 October 2023 – Expected completion date for research

24 November 2023 – Deadline for submission of final report and expense statements

21 December 2023 – Expected final payments

The full call details, application form, budget template, draft contract and financial identification form are now available as a zip-file package below. Also available are ethics forms adapted from University of Stirling procedures to provide further guidance on the identification and reporting on ethical issues.