Researchers have been encouraged to submit proposals to inform policy and strategic needs across a range of topics including animal health, forestry and the environment.

The call for proposals has been launched by Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Martin Heydon today (Monday, August 14).

13 topics have been identified by the DAFM in this 2023 Policy and Strategic Studies Research Call (PSSRC) to address immediate strategic and policy needs.

The topics range from animal health, biosecurity, antimicrobial resistance and food safety, to environment, sustainable food systems, forestry, and gender balance in farming.

Launching the call, the minister with special responsibility for research and innovation said: "Our world-class research community has a strong record of producing research for policy needs.

"I strongly encourage researchers to examine the broad range of topics in this call and to submit relevant proposals."

Following the 2022 call, €4.2 million was awarded to 19 projects across a wide range of areas including climate adaptation, plant health regulation and pesticides, and forestry.

Eligible Research Performing Organisations (RPOs) from Ireland can submit proposals through the DAFM FlexiGrant online submission portal until 4:00p.m on Friday, September 29.

The full list of topics in the 2023 call is as follows:

Development of a risk-based quantitative approach and platform for optimisation of sampling plant-based food products on the Irish market under the National Control Programme for Pesticide Residues;
Evaluating the impact of the national Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) eradication programme on livestock health, welfare and productivity;
Development of a spatio-temporal predictive tool to support risk-based surveillance for avian influenza;
Estimating the animal health losses in the Irish pig sector using the methodology of the Global Burden of Animal Diseases project;
Investigating the impacts of dog bites and policy tools to reduce harm in people and sheep;
Spatial variation in potential drivers of antimicrobial resistance (AMR);
An examination of the behaviours, beliefs, economics and other relevant factors preventing farmers from adopting best biosecurity practices to prevent the entry and spread of bovine tuberculosis (TB) within their herds;
Qualitative and quantitative risk assessment for unpasteurised cheese, produced from milk supplied by herds which subsequently lose their TB-free status;
Role of age and gender on farm performance – examining if women and young farmers are more innovative and more likely to deliver better environmental and economic performance;
Development of an economic impact scoring framework for invasive plant pests on Irish crop production sectors;
Meta-analysis and summary of greenhouse gas (GHG), nitrogen and phosphorous reduction practices in pasture-based production systems and pathways for policy makers;
Sustainable food systems: Mapping Ireland’s institutional interactions;
Broadleaf tree seed species strategies. 

Minister Heydon said this research funding instrument is "key" to ensuring the required evidence base for informing policies and strategies.

The PSSRC was first launched in 2022 to support research that serves to expand the evidence and knowledge base for the DAFM.

This in turn underpins the development of policy, strategy and regulation connected with the functions of the DAFM and the wider agri-food, forest, and bio-based sectors.