Background
The incorporation of spatial and temporal information into the European Risk Assessment paradigm will lead to more scientifically based, more realistic and less conservative environmental risk assessment. In the long term, this will produce a more rapid environmental risk assessment procedure for specific compounds, and reduce the requirement for costly environmental survey and monitoring exercises. A project will also be started to develop a spatially and seasonally based model which will provide water quality predictions, including terrestrial run-off contributions. Addition of atmospheric deposition to this or similar models will improve their scope and reliability, and improve chances of regulatory adoption.
Objectives
Proposals
Proposals submitted for consideration should follow the format of the application form'Application for a CEFIC-LRI Grant' and should address the following areas under individual sub-headings:
- The title of the research;
- The name of the principal investigator and laboratory or laboratories in which the research will be conducted;
- Evidence of the principal investigator”˜s knowledge of, and contributions to, atmospheric deposition modelling, and its application to geo-referenced environmental risk assessment;
- A clear definition of the research objectives, including a detailed proposal for the proposed approach
- A detailed plan of the investigation, including a clearly defined milestone plan which identifies all the critical decision points in the research programme.
- A detailed breakdown of costs
Monitoring
The successful applicant(s) will be required to submit a progress report every 6 months during the course of the programme. At the end of the project a detailed review of the project and the achievements made will be provided by the principal investigator. The successful applicant or applicants will also be required to prepare for publication a manuscript describing the work undertaken and the results achieved.
Scope
The project should include a review of existing atmospheric deposition software for suitability for incorporation in a spatially and temporally based risk assessment model. Current validation status, suitability for incorporation in a digital terrain model, adaptability to requirements of EU Member States, compatibility with existing models, and existing regulatory support/Adoption in EU, or any EU Member State, should be considered. The model selected should then be applied to a spatial and temporal river flow model. Participation in EU model development to an extent which will allow timely identification of similar programmes in other EU Competent Authorities is an essential part of the project. The completed model shall be supplied to Industry and to Competent Authorities for use in environmental risk assessment. Necessary support and documentation shall also be provided. Validation of the model shall form a second phase of the project, for which a review of existing data suitable for model validation will be required.
