Deadline: 11-Jan-21
Biovision Foundation in partnership with the Agropolis Foundation is seeking applications for SHIFT Prize: Award for transformative agroecological research for development.
Agroecology is emerging as a viable alternative pathway to enhance the resilience and sustainability of farming systems by applying ecological principles to agriculture and ensuring a regenerative use of natural resources and ecosystem services while also addressing the need for socially equitable food systems within which people can exercise choice over what they eat and how and where it is produced. Developing and disseminating knowledge and innovation on agroecology is crucial to achieving sustainability and resilience.
The SHIFT prize aims at recognizing collaborative research for development projects and initiatives, which have made an exemplary contribution to the agroecological transformation of food systems, through their transdisciplinary research for development actions.
Biovision Foundation is a charitable organization in Switzerland, founded in 1998 by the World Food Prize recipient Dr. Hans Rudolf Herren. Biovision aims at sustainably improving life for people in Africa while conserving the environment as the basis for all life. Core to Biovision’s approach is the creation and dissemination of knowledge to sustainably improve the health of people, animals, plants and the environment. In 2013 Biovision and its founder won the Right Livelihood award for pioneering work in promoting a safe, secure and sustainable global food supply.
Agropolis Fondation is a French scientific foundation established in 2007 to promote and support high-level research and higher education as well as to broaden international research partnerships in agricultural sciences and sustainable development research. It coordinates a network of research units in “agriculture and sustainable development”. This multidisciplinary scientific network builds a continuum of scientific knowledge on plants: from the gene to the agro-ecosystem and the end use of plants, with recognized expertise on a very large number of plant species in temperate, tropical and Mediterranean regions. This network includes more than 40 research units located in Montpellier and its surroundings. The Foundation is working as well on three cross-cutting issues, namely: climate change: mitigation and adaptation; biodiversity: conservation and sustainable use; and responsible production and consumption.
Prize Information
- The winning project or initiative will receive € 20’000 unrestricted funding to support its further development and strengthen its impacts.
- The winners will be part of a community of champions that support agroecological transformations via policy dialogue and will have the opportunity to showcase their work in high-level discussions. They will also have access to a global platform aimed at connecting diverse research for development stakeholders, including CSOs, donor organizations and policy makers in addition to research institutes.
Eligibility Criteria
The SHIFT Prize is intended for projects and initiatives contributing to an evidence-based food system transformation anywhere in the world. Applications are welcomed from any of the following with achieved or potential impact on the resilience of food systems based on agroecological principles.
- Collaborative projects or initiatives with a transdisciplinary approach to research for development.
- Multi- and interdisciplinary applied research projects on food systems, involving agricultural or environmental sciences as well as social sciences or humanities, or other field of scientific research related to food systems, such as health, nutrition, plant, soil, political science and economy.
- Consortia or partnerships of academic or research institutes, civil society organizations, farmer groups, governmental institutions, cooperatives, and/or private sector actors.
For more information, visit https://www.agropolis-fondation.fr/IMG/pdf/03a_terms_and_conditions_2021_shift_prize_-_final-2.pdf
