Deadline: 15-Feb-24
Future Earth, with funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Science Program is pleased to announce the latest in a series of new funding opportunities through the Program for Early-stage Grants Advancing Sustainability Science (PEGASuS).
PEGASuS focuses on transdisciplinary research connecting the natural and social sciences, generating new knowledge about the potential irreversible transitions in the Earth system caused by climate change, and an improved ability to assess the risk of such transitions. The goal of this program is to increase knowledge, promote innovation, and establish evidence-based solutions to the world’s most difficult sustainability challenges. This opportunity will support teams to engage in transdisciplinary research in one of two different thematic areas.
Thematic Areas
- Thematic Area 1: Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) are effective and adaptive interventions to protect, manage, and/or restore natural or modified systems, including coastlines, cities, watersheds, and rivers. NBS can address multiple sustainable development goals, such as climate and disaster-risk resilience; economic and social prosperity; water security; and health and food security in a cost-effective manner.
- Thematic Area 2: Disaster risk reduction increases preparedness and improves response to minimize the negative impacts of a particular event. Natural disasters, such as droughts, fires, floods, and pandemics, may have far-reaching effects that involve multiple systems, including but not limited to economic recovery, infrastructure replacement and strengthening, and social connections to place. Transdisciplinary research in this theme may aid coordination of efforts across sectors in both the pre and post-disaster timeframe, the development of decision-support tools, and preventative approaches.
Funding Information
- Projects may request up to $50,000 USD and have to be completed by December 31, 2025.
Eligible Projects
- Potential proposals for Take-it-further projects could, for example, i) support further synthesis or greater depth of analysis by using top-off funding for existing project objectives; ii) provide professional development opportunities for students, early-career academics, and practitioners by research exchanges with other projects; iii) develop novel ways of communicating research results and outcomes to ensure that they reach relevant audiences beyond the scientific community; iv) novel application of methods and concepts to accelerate progress in the implementation of nature based solutions. Other ideas are welcome. Proposals can support new activities or deliverables, or supplement/enhance activities and deliverables that are already underway – as long as the addition of the grant would add unique and distinct value, and this value is clearly articulated.
- Projects must deliver tangible research products such as journal articles, policy briefs, websites, reports, digital communication products, proceedings, dashboards, prototype devices and tools, or other products. Specify the deliverables in the project plan.
Eligibility Criteria
- Successful proposals must include project participants from at least one existing and funded project team (or multiple project teams) and new collaborators (optional). The project lead must provide a Letter of Support from the existing project that provides evidence of existing grant agreement or other current funding. Proposals should list senior personnel and staff who will draw on funding from the grant as members per proposal team. Early-career participants are encouraged. The proposal must be submitted by a project lead based at an institution in a country in the Global South or by an indigenous-led organization in any country. Collaborators from anywhere in the world are eligible as project team members. Applicants must have an established organizational bank account to receive funds.
- Successful PEGASuS Take-it-further proposals will demonstrate a compelling need for transdisciplinary integration to advance discovery and innovation by building upon their existing project(s) on 1) Nature-Based Solutions in ocean and coastal systems or 2) risk reduction and response while also taking the existing research in new directions.
- Research projects may focus on any aspect of the existing Nature-Based Solutions or Risk Reduction and Response project. Applicants must present a clear project plan including summary of the original research project(s), objectives, methodology, expected results and products, activities planned for the Take-it-further project, and anticipated new outputs. Proposals can come from any institution from any country in the Global South or indigenous-led from anywhere in the world with collaborators based in any country of the world.
For more information, visit Future Earth.