Grants / Department of Defense / Engineer Research and Development Center

W81EWF-21-SOI-0022: Assessing the Role of Risk Science and Risk Transfer in Engineering With Nature® (EWN) Solutions and Advancing Research to Address Gaps and Opportunities

Closed Closed August 11, 2021 Opportunity W81EWF-21-SOI-0022 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: ERDC Broad Agency Announcement (W912HZ26S0001). Status: Closes January 1, 2027 (55 days left). It is in our archive of Engineer Research and Development Center notices from 2021.

• Award ceiling$200,000
• Total funding$200,000
• Expected awards1
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to the applicants described in the notice.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

This opportunity is restricted to non-federal partners of the Californian Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (CESU).

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past Basic, Applied, and Advanced Research in Science and Engineering awards averaged $1.1 million; this notice allows up to $200,000 per award.
• Most of the program's money (69% over five years) went to colleges and universities.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

Background: Engineering With Nature® (EWN) is the intentional alignment of natural and engineering processes to efficiently and sustainably deliver economic, environmental and social benefits through collaborative processes. In turn, sustainable development of water resources infrastructure is supported by solutions that beneficially integrate engineering and natural systems. There are many common interests and opportunities between risk science and EWN that could lead to innovative approaches that improve resilience for people and nature. The risk industry already has played a role in advancing Natural and Nature-Based Features (NNBF), for example, in advancing risk models and the assessment of the role of wetlands during extreme events such as Hurricane Sandy and in collaboratively developing the science, tools and models necessary to offer a first of its kind “insurance for nature” (i.e., the MesoAmerican Reef). Risk and uncertainty modelers do not normally provide analysis of the risk reduction benefits of NNBF. However, many of the industry-leading coastal flood risk models could capture some of the most critical flood reduction aspects and other resiliency benefits of EWN projects. These analyses are not yet standard practice and entail real costs in terms of new modelling and analysis. This project will engage work with this sector focused on calculating risk and uncertainty, and it will evaluate data and conduct research to advance the analyses that could be done with models when evaluating use of NNBF by the risk and uncertainty modelers. Risk models play a critical role in determining the feasibility and acceptability of risk reduction measures such as NNBF; however, NNBF are rarely included directly in such tools and models because of gaps in science and research. More research is needed to use risk transfer models more widely to help align environmental and risk management goals while also creating opportunities for public and private investment in nature-based projects. The goals of this project are 1) To assess how nature is (or is not) included in models that consider risk and uncertainty, 2) To analyze and identify research gaps and opportunities for alignment in activities, work, and products between the risk models and NNBF and 3) To develop key findings and make recommendations based on the research for how to address the gaps and realize the opportunities.

Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, W912HZ26S0001, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.