The purpose of the fund is to promote and support innovative research, product development and expertise to benefit the environmental management sector, especially with regard to waste management, material recycling, the utilisation of waste, the treatment of hazardous waste, and the restoration of soil and waters in the Nordic countries.
For this purpose, the fund awards grants to research institutes, research teams and researchers. Grants from the fund are primarily awarded for full or partial funding of wide-scale research project entities. Grants can also be awarded to fund master’s and doctoral theses relevant to the purpose of the fund, to fund project entities of a preliminary nature in preparation for wider-scale projects, and to promote the publication of internationally significant research results.Important criteria in the evaluation of projects to be funded are the commercialisation potential of the research results and their use in the development of the environmental and waste management business in the Nordic countries.
The following types of grants can be awarded from the fund:
- Research grant- A research grant can be awarded to a research group, researcher or research project for innovative research and product or process development supporting the environmental management sector, especially with regard to waste management, recycling, the utilisation of waste materials, the treatment of hazardous waste, and the restoration of soil and waters.
- Study grant- A study grant can be awarded for the writing or partial funding of a master’s or doctoral thesis or a corresponding thesis in the Nordic countries.
The themes for 2017 are:
- Sustainable process solutions for combining material and energy recovery from challenging wastes
- New economical recycling processes for large industrial waste streams
Application time runs from 11th October until 30th November 2016. Decision for the accepted scholarships will be made by Managing Director of Ekokem Group in February 2017. The funded projects and scholarships will be published in Ekokem scholarship seminar event in June 2017.