The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced funding of up to €6.6 million for new environmental research.

The funding will support targeted research projects that address specific areas, with a focus on shorter projects in order to provide timely outputs.

The EPA is inviting proposals from the research community for projects under 29 topics that will contribute to the development and implementation of environmental policies in Ireland.

The list of selected topics includes the following areas:

Addressing nitrogen pollution in Ireland - developing a sustainable nitrogen management approach (€330,000);
Sources and sinks of methane in Ireland (€495,000);
Vitality and stability of carbon sinks (€495,000);
Regulatory gaps and emerging challenges in Ireland's distilling sector (€165,000);
Assessing the impact of landscape fragmentation on ecosystems (€165,000);
Building the evidence base for water reuse in a changing climate (€330,000);
Novel methods to remotely detect peat removal at scale (€165,000).

The EPA Research Programme is a government initiative funded by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC).

Applications are accepted from across the island of Ireland, including from higher education institutions, research performing organisations, private companies and non-governmental organisations.

Under this year’s call, the EPA is partnering with Met Éireann, the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to co-fund projects in areas of mutual interest.

Commenting on the research call, Dr Eimear Cotter, director of the EPA’s Office of Evidence and Assessment said:

“The EPA’s continued investment in research underscores its critical role in addressing knowledge gaps and supporting effective policy responses to the challenges posed by climate change and environmental degradation.

"In 2024, we were delighted to see an 80% increase in applications to the EPA research call, highlighting the significant opportunity that researchers see for their work to contribute to environmental and climate policy development, and we hope to see a similarly strong response to our 2025 call.”

The deadline for submitting research proposals is 4:00p.m on May 29, 2025. It is expected that the new projects will be awarded before the end of the year.