Lake Champlain Sea Grant Research Competition Opens

By Julianna White, Research Program Coordinator (Email the author)
November 07, 2022

Lake Champlain Sea Grant expects to fund $700,000 in applied research that will begin in 2024. This call for proposals names 12 research topics, all aligned with the program’s vision to help Lake Champlain basin communities act to enable long-term ecosystem health and sustainable economic development.

Research topics are:

  • Forecasting climate change, extreme weather, and flooding
  • Increasing resilience to climate change
  • Reducing runoff that may contain pollutants entering surface and ground waters
  • Socio-economic influences on watershed and lake use and management
  • Use of traditional knowledge for watershed and lake use and management
  • Community hazard resiliency, climate change adaptation, emergency preparedness
  • Opportunities and barriers for aquaculture and fisheries
  • Shoreline habitat protection, restoration, and management
  • Green infrastructure and clean water initiatives
  • Lake food webs, including aquatic non-native species and biosecurity
  • Nutrients and pollutants that affect watershed health and lake ecosystems
  • Microplastics (marine debris) in Lake Champlain and its tributaries

Mandatory letters of intent are due February 17, 2023, and full proposals are due May 26. Lake Champlain Sea Grant will host an online question and answer session on December 8, 2022, at noon. Register for this online event.

Researchers from institutions of higher education, state and local government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and businesses that conduct research in the Lake Champlain basin in New York and Vermont are eligible to submit proposals, and researchers from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Goals are connected to the Lake Champlain Sea Grant Strategic Plan for 2024–2028 (available soon).

Project developers should engage potential research-users, including underrepresented and underserved communities, prior to submitting a proposal. The goal of these initial conversations is to engage research-users and communities in discussion to determine what questions, content, and form of end products would be most useful for them.

Such user-focused applied research leads to tangible impacts in ecosystems and communities. And it also wins awards. Read about how a research project focusing on water quality from the Bolton, New York wastewater treatment plant won the 2022 Sea Grant Association Research-to-Application Award.

Also, in March 2023, Lake Champlain Sea Grant intends to issue a call for proposals for partnered fellowships for 2024–2026. See the 2022–2024 fellowship call and read about current fellows for more information.