OERA Open Proposals Program
The Offshore Energy Research Association (OERA) has a ‘Open Proposal Program’ available three (3) times a year for potential research funding in the areas of marine renewable energy, petroleum geosciences and seismic & marine sound.
The OERA is an independent, not-for-profit contract research organization that was established in 2006, and capitalized by the Nova Scotia Department of Energy, to support offshore geoscience, environmental and marine renewable energy research and development. Its mission is to lead energy research that enables the sustainable development of Nova Scotia’s offshore energy resources through strategic partnerships with academia, government and industry. OERA’s purpose is to reduce the risks related to investments in Nova Scotia’s offshore energy resources through the provision of a range of research initiatives.
The following proposal guideline will be used for funding considerations. The rationale behind this program is to capture modestly budgeted research projects at different times of the year that fall outside OERA’s standard Competitive Research Call and RFP processes.
Program specifications:
• Researchers can submit proposals at any point during the year.
• Proposals will be accepted and vetted by external peer review and OERA Board of Directors three times per year.
• Proposals will be due to OERA on the last day of January, May and October of any given year. Proposals received after a targeted deadline date may be carried forward to the next available review period.
• Proposals will be accepted for projects in geosciences, marine renewables, and seismic & marine sound.
• All proposals much be submitted on the OERA Proposal Form which is available on the OERA website at www.oera.ca
Criteria:
• Proposed work must support and/or advance an OERA research priority area; or is an extension of existing research previously funded by OERA; or is deemed important and timely to advancing Nova Scotia’s offshore energy sector.
• Proposal budget must be a maximum of $20,000 CAD per project.
• Majority of (OERA) funding should be allocated to support Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) stipends/salaries to encourage research capacity development here in Nova Scotia;
• Proposed work must be completed within one (1) year.
• Project leveraging (cash and/or in kind) and collaborative initiatives are strongly encouraged.
Eligible expenditures:
Funding shall be primarily directed toward conducting the research; however, eligible expenses are as follows:
• Proposed work may include provision for minor equipment (excluding office equipment) and software acquisitions, to a maximum of 5% of the value of the project.
• Administrative (overhead) costs associated with the proposed work may be covered up to a maximum of 10% of the project.
• Proposed work may include travel expenses for field work only (i.e. no travel for conferences, workshops, etc).
• Proposed work may include expenses for HQP stipends.
• Proposed work may include nominal expenses for materials and supplies.
Please note: Conference fees, workshops, administrative software, office equipment or faculty honoraria are considered non-eligible expenses.
For more information please visit www.oera.ca or contact:
Nalani Perry
Research & Communications Coordinator
Offshore Energy Research Association
Tel: 902-406-7012
Email: nperry@oera.ca