NWO Opens Offshore Wind Research Program Call

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has opened for applications the PhD@Sea program focused on projects related to planning and O&M of offshore wind farms.

The call focuses on cross-disciplinary research projects that can help realize the planning, operation and maintenance of projects across the different spatial and temporal scales involved.

The program should be realized through three up to six interlinked PhD students in a project that addresses the fundamental challenges concerning technical and physical aspects of project operations, marine environment, multi-purpose and cross-border spatial planning, as well as society, markets and governance.

Applications can be submitted by an academic researcher on behalf of a consortium of academic researchers and public and/or private co-funding partners, which should involve researchers of at least two different knowledge organizations.

The maximum budget to be applied for is EUR 1,5 million and each application should bring at least 30% co-funding.

Applications are said to be assessed by the relevance to the PhD@Sea program, scientific quality and originality, as well as innovation potential and impact on the offshore sector.

The assessment includes checking the eligibility of the application, after which it is assessed by international academic referees. Applicants are then given the opportunity to respond to the comments of the referees. The assessment committee ranks the applications and sends its advice to the Board of the NWO domain Science, which then takes the final funding decision.

The deadline for submitting applications is 13 June at 14:00h CEST.