DASA Launches Second Phase of ‘A Joint Effort’ Competition

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) has launched this competition to support a parallel Australian and UK research topic on advanced materials on military platforms in land, sea and air environments. This is the second phase of the programme and it aims to increase collaboration between the two nations, building both on innovations from Phase 1 and exploring entirely new concepts.

Proposals are sought from both industry and academia for innovations that address the challenging demands of the defence environment, including:

Improving the durability of structures and joints to reduce failure and maintainability issues.

Enabling new design choices to be made for future military platforms to maintain a capability advantage.

Providing new routes to create and manage joints across the life-cycle of a military platform.

Innovations could either reduce the complexity or cost of repair processes or allow greater flexibility in the materials/components being repaired.

It is envisaged that Phase 2 proposals will start at a minimum of Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 2/3 and conclude this phase with a minimum of TRL 5. All proposals should articulate the development in TRL of the output over the lifetime of the contract and how this relates to improved operational capability.

For this phase, £500,000 is available to fund proposals. DASA anticipates bids to be in the range of £100,000 to £170,000. The upper-limit for this competition for a single proposal is £250,000.

Phase 2 is open to applications from all suppliers and not just those that submitted Phase 1 successful bids. Applicants who were unsuccessful in Phase 1 may submit proposals, providing they can show maturation of their initial Phase 1 proposals. New applicants who did not participate in the Phase 1 competition are also welcome to submit. Collaboration to enhance proposals is encouraged.

The deadline for applications to be submitted is midday on 31 January 2020.

More information about this research funding opportunity and the application process is available on the RESEARCHconnect funding information platform. RESEARCHconnect provides up-to-the minute content, insight and analysis on research funding news and policy. To find out more about how RESEARCHconnect can keep you in the know, and subscription fees, contact us today.