The International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) was formed in 1996 to encourage Earth scientists to use the investigative tool of scientific drilling to test models from information gathered at the Earth’s surface.
The ICDP include 22 participating countries across the world. In addition, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a Corporate Affiliate.
ICDP organizes peer evaluation of project proposals and combines the annual financial contributions of its members to part-fund research drilling projects. Meanwhile, almost 60 scientific drilling projects worldwide received substantial financial and operational support by ICDP, and more than 90 ICDP-funded workshops have been conducted.
ICDP has developed four important scientific themes of Earth science for which drilling on continents can provide major insights. These four key scientific themes, outlined in the ICDP Science Plan under the overarching motto „Billions of years of Earth Evolution“, are:
In the framework of the ICDP Science Plan, future ICDP projects will focus on the evolution of planet Earth, past climates, the effects of large impacts and mass extinctions, the formation and wise utilization of our most significant resources, and in-situ monitoring of volcanoes and fault zones. Given the typically high cost of drilling and of research in boreholes, it is clear that any proposals for drilling with ICDP’s help must address substantial scientific questions with a strong focus on societal needs. The linkage to wider societal challenges will include climate action, mitigation of natural hazards, affordable clean energy, sustainable cities and communities and clean water and sanitation.
ICDP support is proposal-driven. Multinational research teams are invited to submit proposals to the ICDP in order to receive financial and operational support. ICDP provides a strategy for successful science delivery by funding workshops and co-funding drilling operations of different scales world-wide.
Therefore, different proposal types with specific requirements at certain stages apply.
Deadline for proposal submission to ICDP is each year on January 15.
