Simons Foundation | Solar Radiation Management

The Simons Foundation has launched an international collaborative research program designed to fill fundamental scientific knowledge gaps relevant to Solar Radiation Management. At present, not enough is known about SRM systems and their potential impacts to allow informed decision-making. This call aims to help fill key fundamental knowledge gaps in the science of SRM.

Priority areas for this call include:

• Environmentally benign materials discovery for SAI and CCT.
• Laboratory physicochemical characterization of SAI and CCT materials and their interactions with light, clouds, atmospheric trace gases and with themselves or ambient aerosols, with the aim to improve microphysical inputs to existing climate models.
• Approaches to minimize cirrus cloud formation, including from aircraft emissions.
• Assessments of near-field (<100 km) atmospheric turbulence and its impact on SAI and CCT interventions, primarily through modeling.
• Integration of improved representations of aerosols and turbulence into global-scale modeling, and characterization of global and regional impacts of novel materials for SAI and CCT.

• Duration: 3 years
• Funding: max. $500,000/year

• Principal Investigators (PIs), co-Investigators (co-Is) and other project participants may be from non-U.S. institutions. PIs and co-Is must hold a tenured or tenure-track faculty, or equivalent, position at an educational institution in a department with a Ph.D. program at the time of application and for the duration of the award.

• Applications must be submitted on the Simons Award Manager (SAM) platform, via the applicant’s own account. Once there, click on the Funding Opportunities icon and navigate to the Mathematics and Physical Sciences – Solar Radiation Management call. Click the Create Application button to begin, adding all required LOI components. Notifications will be sent to successful LOI applicants by 15 December. If invited for a full proposal, the Research Office will be available to assist with the budget and give the final sign off on the SAM portal.

• More information about the program is available here
• Application portal can be found here
• For any other questions, please contact the Research Office