The acronyme BONUS represent a variety of initiatives in the Baltic Sea marine sciences. BONUS Era-Net, funded by the EU 6th Framework Programme, stands for BONUS for the Baltic Sea Science – Network of Funding Agencies, a consortium with 14 partners from all nine Baltic Sea countries.
BONUS EEIG (BONUS Baltic Organisations’ Network for Funding Science EEIG) is an independent organisation established as an European Economic Interest Grouping. At the moment BONUS EEIG coordinates the BONUS Era-Net as well as the BONUS+ Call.
BONUS-169 is the abbreviation given to the Joint Baltic Sea Research Programme under Article 169 of the EC Treaty. The programme has started in 2007 with a joint BONUS+ Call, targeted to financing of research supporting sustainable development of the Baltic Sea with 22 million euros as a bridging measure of both national and EC funds. The call raised great interest in the scientific community and altogether 149 Letters of Intent were received. Based on scientific evaluation, 55 full proposals were invited to the second stage. Full proposals were evaluated by an international expert panel. BONUS EEIG Steering Committee recommended 16 proposals to be funded, with participation of over 100 institutes and Universities around the Baltic. Themes for research in these proposals are, among others, governance of environmental risks in the Baltic Sea, societal conditions for the effective protection of the Baltic Sea, mapping Baltic Sea genetic biodiversity, assessing acceptable impact of pollutants in the Baltic coastal areas and integrative environmental decision models for some parts of the Baltic Sea.