Deadline: 23-Jan-23
The Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) has announced two Innovator Awards for Scientific Excellence in a Feed the Future Innovation Lab recognize individual researchers and/or research teams for significant achievements originating from work performed under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Feed the Future Innovation Labs.
Two awards are anticipated to be given annually (contingent on the submission of eligible nominations): the Global Innovators Award for an individual researcher or a team of researchers, including researchers at all stages of their post-student career, and the Early Innovators Award for students. The awards recognize research efforts that contribute to the interrelated and interdependent objectives of the U.S. Government Global Food Security Strategy: inclusive and sustainable agriculture-led economic growth, strengthened resilience among people and systems, and a well-nourished population.
Purpose
The BIFAD Awards for Scientific Excellence in a Feed the Future Innovation Lab recognize individual researchers and/or research teams for significant achievements originating from work performed under the United States Agency for International Development- (USAID) funded Feed the Future Innovation Labs.
Awards
- Early Innovator Award
- Student researchers contribute significantly to research in food systems, agriculture, and nutrition, including as important members of the research teams through the Feed the Future Innovation Labs. The Early Innovator Award (formerly called the Student Researcher Award) recognizes a student researcher whose research and outreach through the Feed the Future Innovation Lab(s) demonstrates exemplary scientific merit, relevance to national and/or regional priorities, potential for impact, and commitment to fostering partnerships and enabling locally led development.
- Nominee Eligibility
- A student is defined as a registered undergraduate, graduate, or professional student at any global accredited institution of higher education. Nominees must be a registered student in good standing (including in compliance with USAID Exchange Visitor regulations and Conditions of Sponsorship, if relevant) at the time of the nomination and affiliated with a Feed the Future Innovation Lab.
- Selection Criteria
- A successful award recipient should demonstrate achievement and sustainable contributions to the field across all the following award criteria:
- Demonstrated scientific and technical merit of the nominee’s research.
- Demonstrated relevance of the nominee’s research to developing country national and/or regional agricultural research priorities.
- Demonstrated and/or potential for the nominee’s research to have broader impact at scale that contributes to improvements in developing country food security, nutrition, resilience, and inclusive, sustainable agricultureled economic growth.
- Evidence of commitment for integrating inclusive development and local capacity development considerations into the nominee’s research process. At the Early Innovator Award level, this may include, illustratively, demonstration of participatory research approaches, examples of students’ outreach on campus and in the community related to their research, demonstration of teaching or mentoring younger students and/or peers, and engagement of the local community in research planning and implementation.
- Global Innovator Award
- The Global Innovator Award recognizes a researcher or research team whose research and outreach through the Feed the Future Innovation Labs demonstrates exemplary scientific merit, relevance to national and/or regional priorities, impact or demonstrated potential for impact, and demonstrated commitment to inclusive development and local capacity development. This award, formerly called the “Senior Researcher Award”, is open to researchers or research teams in all stages of their post-student careers. BIFAD strongly encourages applications from early and mid-career researchers or research teams that include early to mid-career researchers.
- Nominee Eligibility
- Individual researchers and research teams are eligible for the Global Innovator Award. Nominees for the award must be living at the time their nominations are submitted. Nominees must be associated currently or formerly (within the past two years) with a Feed the Future Innovation Lab. Nominations of early- and mid-career researchers are strongly encouraged. Achievements upon which award nominations are based must have been completed primarily while affiliated with a Feed the Future Innovation Lab.
- Team Nominations
- Team nominations are limited to between two and eight researchers. Research teams are eligible for the BIFAD Award for Scientific Excellence provided all of the following conditions are met: (1) at least two members of the team are researchers funded by a Feed the Future Innovation Lab (other team members may include research partners from the private sector, community partners, or others who contributed to the implementation of the team’s research); (2) 50 percent or more of the team effort must be attributable to a Feed the Future Innovation Lab; and (3) the nomination must show that the team effort was critical to the outcomes.
- Selection Criteria
- A successful award recipient should demonstrate achievement and sustainable contributions to the field across all the following award criteria, as they relate to the nominee’s work through the Feed the Future Innovation Lab(s).
- Demonstrated scientific and technical merit of the nominee’s research.
- Demonstrated relevance of the nominee’s research to developing country national and/or regional agricultural, food systems, and/or nutrition research and development priorities.
- Demonstrated and/or potential for the nominee’s research to have broader impact at scale that contributes to improvements in developing country food security, nutrition, resilience, and inclusive, sustainable, agriculture-led economic growth. Nominees whose work demonstrates thoughtful consideration of scaling pathways and application of the Product Life Cycle Framework will be most favorably evaluated.
- Evidence of commitment for integrating inclusive development and local capacity development into the nominee’s research process, aligned to USAID priorities for locally led development.
Benefits
Award recipients join a prestigious group of former awardees who have made tremendous impacts in the global fight against hunger and poverty. Additionally, the Awards create a platform to highlight the important work of the Feed the Future Innovation Labs and partners globally, and to draw attention to priorities for future investments in research for development. Other award benefits include:
- Recognition at an awards ceremony including an opportunity to present a mini- lecture on the research findings and impacts.
- Travel expenses and registration costs paid to attend the World Food PrizeBorlaug Dialogues Event in Des Moines, lowa in October 2023 (an estimated$1,500-$2,500 value). If a research team is awarded, registration and travel will be provided for one team member. “The Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue brings together individuals from more than 65 countries to address cutting-edge issues related to global food security and nutrition. The gathering convenes a wide array of scientific experts, policy leaders, business executives and farmers and has been called the premier conference in the world on global agriculture. Through the Borlaug Dialogue, the World Food Prize Foundation helps build alliances in the struggle against world hunger and malnutrition.”
- Public recognition through a series of online announcements and blog posts. The BIFAD Support Team will coordinate with the award recipients’ university or home institution, USAID, and other local and international media outlets for public outreach.
- A personalized photo collage plaque commemorating the accomplishment.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible nominators include all Feed the Future Innovation Lab researchers and/or their partners, scientific peers, donor agencies, the private sector, or any individual or group wishing to recognize Feed the Future Innovation Lab contributions to food security, agricultural development, and nutrition. It is not a requirement for nominations to be submitted or approved by the Innovation Lab Director.
- Nominations from local partners of the Feed the Future Innovation Labs, including private sector partners, local research organizations, and other partners or collaborators, are strongly encouraged.
- There is not a limit to the number of nomination packets one nominator can submit; nor is there a limit on how many nominations can be submitted for nominees from the same Innovation Lab.
- USAID staff, staff of the BIFAD Support Contract contractor (Tetra Tech), and BIFAD members are not eligible to submit nominations.
For more information, visit BIFAD.