Tire Industry Project announces open call awards, starts new funding round

Geneva – The Tire Industry Project (TIP) has announced five awardees under its first open call for projects (OCP), and confirmed plans to continue the scheme with a fresh round of funding.

Launched in 2024, the OCPs are designed to enhance scientific knowledge of tire wear emissions and their mitigation, providing financial support to independent projects across the world.

The awards, worth nearly $2 million (€1.7 million), were unveiled at the Tire Emissions Research Conference in Boston, Massachusetts, TIP confirmed 16 Sept.

Three of the selected projects target tire wear emissions in the environment, while two focus on mitigation solutions.

The five chosen projects, selected from 22 submissions, are:

Research projects
– Geospatial record and interpolation of tire wear pollution in roadside soils, Technical University Darmstadt, Germany
– Tire and road wear particles (TRWP) in combined sewer overflows, Gustave Eiffel University, France
– T-Mark: high-throughput determination of TRWP in the environment, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Germany

Mitigation projects
– Tire char as a treatment media for stormwater runoff, Washington State University, US.
– Green infrastructure for urban tire wear pollution, Ocean Conservancy, US.

According to TIP, all applications were reviewed by an evaluation committee of TIP experts and external specialists against pre-defined criteria covering feasibility, methodology, innovation, and impact.

TIP has now opened its second OCP, with applications due by 15 Jan 2026.

The call is focused on “assessing and measuring the potential ecological impacts (real-world, lab-based or in silico) of tire wear emissions during tire use, including tire chemicals, leachates and transformation products.”

A webinar for prospective applicants will be held 23 Sept, TIP added.

“The topic of tire wear emissions is extremely complex," stated Larisa Kryachkova, executive director of TIP.

The subject requires "deep, evidence-based investigation and cross-stakeholder collaboration,” said the TIP leader.

Recognising this, Kryachkova said, TIP had decided to complement its own research and mitigation initiatives by launching the OCPs to involve stakeholders globally to work on the “multi-dimensional subject.”

According to Dr John Bucher, member of TIP’s assurance group and the OCP evaluation committee, the initiative seeks “sound science and robust evidence” to assess the environmental challenges and effective solutions for the problem.

“Initiatives such as the OCP can act as a tremendous catalyst in this regard,” he added.