The U.S.-Ireland R&D Partnership was launched in 2006 to accelerate economic development and cooperation across borders by encouraging trilateral research collaboration between the United States, Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland.
In 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Republic of Ireland Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (DAFM) and the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) launched a five-year pilot (pilot) adding agriculture as a Partnership priority area. During the pilot, the partners capitalized investments in research intended to help solve global agriculture-related issues. Following the successful conclusion of the pilot, USDA, DAFM and DAERA intend to continue to support agriculture as a priority area under the Partnership.
The Call in Agriculture allows Principal Investigators/Project Directors (PI/PD) from the United States (U.S.), Northern Ireland (NI) and the Republic of Ireland (RoI) to collaborate in response to calls for proposals in select program areas in the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agricultural and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Foundational and Applied Science Request for Applications (RFA).
There must be at least one PI/PD from each jurisdiction, with the U.S. partner bearing responsibility for submission of the joint “tri-partite” proposal to USDA/NIFA. If approved for funding by NIFA, DAFM funds the RoI investigator(s), DAERA funds the NI investigator(s), and NIFA funds the U.S. investigator(s).
NOTE: USDA, DAFM and DAERA are currently accepting applications for FY 2024.
Applications may be submitted in the following 13 Program Area Priorities:
- Pests and Beneficial Species in Agricultural Production Systems
- Animal Nutrition, Growth and Lactation
- Welfare of Agricultural Animals
- Diseases of Agricultural Animals
- Animal Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics
- Mitigating Antimicrobial Resistance Across the Food Chain
- Agricultural Microbiomes in Plant Systems and Natural Resources
- Biorefining and Biomanufacturing
- Data Science for Food and Agriculture Systems (DSFAS)
- Inter-Disciplinary Engagement in Animal Systems (IDEAS)
- Sustainable Agroecosystems: Health, Functions, Processes and Management
- Sustainable Bioeconomy through Biobased Products
- Soil Health
Applicants are encouraged to read the FAQs for this partnership. For more information on the DAFM and DAERA application process, please visit the DAFM website and DAERA website.
Webinars
U.S.-Ireland Research and Development Partnership FY 2022 Presentation
Funded Projects
Topic: Improved Pig Health through the Novel Application of SynBio in Phage Therapy (Phage SUAS)
Institutions involved: University of Wisconsin, Teagasc, Queens University of Belfast, and University College Cork
Topic: Characterization of the respiratory microbiome and virome associated with Bovine Respiratory
Institutions involved: USDA Agricultural Research Service, Teagasc, and the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute
Topic: Targeted genome editing to enhance resistance to Mycobacterium bovis infection in domestic cattle populations
Institutions involved: Acceligen/Recombinetics Inc., Queens University and University College Dublin
Topic: Development and validation of an on-farm, electronic disease diagnosis platform for cattle
Institutions involved: Georgia Tech University, Queens University, and University College Cork
Topic: Improved Animal husbandry through inhibition of Microbial Bile Salt Hydrolase
Institutions involved: University of Tennessee, Queens University, and University College Cork
Topic: Identification of Regulatory Element Variants Impeding Immune Response to Pathogens Causing Bovine Respiratory Disease
Institutions involved: University of Missouri, Teagasc, and the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute
Topic: Dual-Function Engineered Biochar for Excess Soil Phosphorus Sorption with Subsequent Slow Release for Cost-Effective and Sustainable Crop Production
Institutions involved: Auburn University, Trinity College Dublin, and the Agri-Food and Biosciences
Topic