Eight new projects in Ecosystems and Food Security approved

​The r4d programme has a total budget of CHF 96.6 million. It issued two thematic calls in May 2013. The funding decisions for the thematic modules Ecosystems and Food Security have now been taken. Two international review panels evaluated the projects in a two-stage procedure based on peer reviews from researchers and practitioners. The panels evaluated a total of 25 pre-proposals submitted in the thematic module Ecosystems and 39 pre-proposals in the thematic module Food Security. Key evaluation criteria in the r4d programme are excellent scientific quality and relevance for development. Both have equal weight.

In January 2014 six project consortia in the module Ecosystems and nine project consortia in the module Food Security module were invited to submit a proposal. After a second round of evaluation following the same principles the panels selected three projects within the moduel Ecosystems module and five projects within the module Food Security. The National Research Council and its Presiding Board finally approved the eight new r4d projects with a total budget of CHF 24.8 million. The projects will start in the beginning of 2015.