Deadline: 9-Feb-21
The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) invites the submission of concept notes for projects that enhance knowledge of Asian biodiversity through access to data from biological collections and monitoring programmes in the region.
The call is issued under the sixth phase of the Biodiversity Information Fund for Asia (BIFA) programme, funded by the Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan. It aims to address key challenges and priorities identified in connection with the mobilization and use of biodiversity data in the region.
Objectives
This call seeks to support projects that
- Strengthen the capacity of institutions in the target countries to manage and mobilize biodiversity data.
- Mobilize primary data on Asian biodiversity, with a preference given to the mobilization of:
- Data relating to the hosts, reservoirs or vectors of zoonotic diseases.
- Data derived from DNA, for example, metabarcoding and eDNA projects.
- Data mobilized by the private sector through environmental impact assessments or other monitoring activities.
- Increase open data on Asian biodiversity to fill taxonomic and geographic gaps, within and beyond the grant period.
Funding Information
- The total funding assigned to this call is approximately €220,000.
- Applicants may request a maximum of €20,000 for projects implemented over a maximum period of 18 months.
Types of Grants
- BIFA collections data mobilization grants that target Asia’s natural history collections, to fill taxonomic and geographic gaps in freely-accessible data relating to Asian biodiversity.
- BIFA ecological monitoring data mobilization grants that target Asian biodiversity monitoring programmes and networks.
Eligibility Criteria
All activities funded under the BIFA programme must comply with the following general eligibility criteria:
- Concept notes and full proposals must be submitted in English through the GBIF Grants Portal by the stated deadlines
- Applicants must be legal entities located in an eligible Asian country. Such entities include national government agencies, GBIF Participant nodes and their host institutions, natural history museums and collections, research institutes, universities, networks and NGOs, etc.
- Applicants must be in good standing with GBIF (i.e. the lead institution submitting the project proposal has no overdue or missing reports and/or deliverables from previous projects funded under a programme led by GBIF).
- No applications for funding the third year of a continuing BIFA project will be considered eligible.
- Data mobilized by BIFA-funded projects should be principally within the target countries.
- All projects must include a major component of data mobilization through the GBIF network.
- All data mobilized through the BIFA grants, as well as any other products of the projects, such as training material, must be made available under a CC0 1.0 waiver or CC-BY 4.0 licence.
- All proposed project activities must fall within the stated implementation periods for each grant type.
- Fieldwork and/or the collection of new field data are not eligible costs under the BIFA programme – although such activities may be included in a project plan if funded by alternative sources.
- Due to the status of the COVID-19 pandemic, project proposals may not include plans or costs for international travel during 2021.
- Project proposals may include plans and costs relating to international travel taking place within the eligible implementation period in 2022, only when accompanied by clear contingency plans
- All BIFA funded activities must be not-for-profit, although private companies and consultancies may be included as project partners.
- Applicants must commit co-funding (in-kind or cash) to their projects and provide details of this co-funding in their concept notes and full proposals.
- Overhead costs may not be charged to BIFA Grants.
- As part of the grant request, up to a maximum of €1,000 may be requested for IT, electronic and laboratory equipment, as well as bioinformatics and sequencing services to process existing materials, covering up to a maximum of 50% of the cost of each item or service order. Receipts must be provided in financial reports.
- Applicants from countries or organizations in Asia that already participate in GBIF must include a statement of endorsement from the GBIF Head of Delegation or Node Manager at the concept note stage.
Application Process & Selection Criteria
Selection of applications for grants from the BIFA programme follow a two-stage process:
- Stage 1: The project lead submits a concept note through the GBIF Grants Portal, which will be screened to ensure that it meets general eligibility criteria and that it falls within the scope of the programme. If it passes these tests, the concept note is reviewed independently by three reviewers and scored against the following selection criteria:
- The relevance of the proposal to the purpose and recommended activities of the selected BIFA grant type and to the specific needs of the geographic area(s) targeted, including the relevance of the taxonomic group(s) selected for data mobilization.
- Inclusion of one or more of the following data streams in the proposal’s data mobilization plan:
- Data relating to the hosts, reservoirs or vectors of zoonotic diseases.
- Data derived from DNA, for example, metabarcoding (eDNA) projects.
- Data mobilized by the private sector through environmental impact assessments or other monitoring activities.
- The expected value of the project’s deliverables to both the national and regional context and the broader community of biodiversity information holders and users.
- Coherence and effectiveness of the proposal.
- Likelihood of the project achieving sustainable results.
- Likelihood of projects submitted by GBIF non-participating countries to result in formal GBIF participation or to develop a pathway leading towards participation in GBIF as a result of their project.
- Demonstration of how institutions applying for a follow-up of a BIFA project plan to build on the results from their previous BIFA grant.
- Cost-effectiveness (including factors such as the number of partners benefiting from the project, matching funds leveraged, etc.)
- Choice and diversity of project partners.
- Level of support demonstrated by confirmation letters from at least some project partners.
A Selection Panel convened by GBIF Secretariat, including external experts, then evaluates the concept notes based on scoring and comments provided by the reviewers, before recommending which applicants should be invited to submit a full proposal. In addition to the guidance provided by the reviewers, the Selection Panel may take the following criteria into account in its recommendations:
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- Geographic and thematic balance, to ensure that invited proposals meet broader objectives of encouraging data mobilization in under-represented countries and/or taxonomic groups.
- A suitable balance of projects that build on the activities of previous grantees and those that introduce new institutions to the GBIF community of practice.
- Potential for concept notes with similar objectives, focus and/or overlapping partners to combine into a single submission at the full proposal stage.
- Stage 2
- Candidates recommended by the Selection Panel are invited to submit a full proposal separately through the GBIF Grants Portal. The invitation may be accompanied by recommendations or specific conditions communicated by the Selection Panel. These may include feedback from reviewers on the detail of the concept note, recommendations regarding the budget or suggestions relating to the possible pairing of the project with another submitted concept note. The response to this feedback is an additional criterion used to evaluate the full proposal.
- Full proposals are submitted to the same process as the concept note, i.e. independent review and scoring by three reviewers, and evaluation by the Selection Panel. As in the first stage, final recommendations for funding may take account of geographic and thematic balance, as well as the balance between experienced and new project teams, to ensure the best overall impact of the annual funding round.
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