icdp Funding
...seed money is the key
Scientific drilling can be expensive and logistically challenging, making it necessary to have a strict funding policy. Most of the annual budget is spent on preparatory workshops and drilling campaigns. Funding limits exist for projects and overall funding for each project depends depends on the proposal, its evaluation by the Science Advisory Group, and then the Executive Committee and Assembly of Governors.
Our Funding Policy
Co-mingled Funding Principle
An effective policy
ICDP's financial support is based on a 'co-mingled funding' principle, which can vary between 5 to about 70 % of the total operational costs that can easily exceed 1 Million USD. The remainder of the budget has to be provided by national funding agencies or other sources, such as industry.
Proposals undergo a thorough evaluation process (see Proposals). If a project is considered mature, ICDP is usually the first of several funding partners. A funding approval by ICDP helps in securing additional third party funds.
Eligibility
Who can apply?
Scientists from ICDP member countries or countries considering membership can submit unsolicited proposals as lead Principal Investigators (PI). Scientists from non-member countries can contribute to individual projects by being part of the science team but not as a PI. However, having an international project team is one of ICDP's requirements.
Note, ICDP does not accept proposals that include persons with affiliations to Russian or Belarussian institutes until the situation in Ukraine is resolved.
Overhead Costs
ICDP does not allow for indirect expenses (overhead costs) to be charged to ICDP grants. The founding organizations of ICDP have agreed that overheads for the institutions of the Principal Investigators (PIs) cannot be supported because of the different funding pathways and administrative rules within the various ICDP member countries. The only way to overcome administrative and financial regulation problems with ICDP's international funds is to exclude provision of overhead costs in all cases.
Administration of Funds
ICDP offers to administer third party funds of ICDP projects within a trust in order to either pool funds, avoid administration or overcome annual funding restrictions that may apply to the Principal Investigators (PIs). In each case, ICDP establishes an individual Grant Agreement to lay down the amount of funding, the purpose of the project and that remaining funds will be redistributed. An example of such an ICDP Grant Agreement can be found here (pdf).
If you are a proponent and need to learn more about Grant Agreements, feel free to contact Dr. Ulrich Harms, the head of the Operational Support Group for more details. Specifications of your agreement aspects such as utilization of funds for operations and related costs and responsibility for things such as publication of data and access to samples will be established in a Grant Agreement as the funding contract.