Biodiversa+: new call opening

Transformative change is defined as “fundamental system-wide reorganisation across technological, economic and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values needed for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity” (IPBES 2019). It goes beyond approaches that aim to tweak business as usual, or scale up existing solutions, seeking instead to transform root causes and to change structures of society.

The aim of the upcoming call is to support transnational, interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary and/or cross-sectoral research and innovation that will help to identify, analyse and better comprehend the transformation processes that can mitigate and reverse biodiversity decline. Projects should also consider how biodiversity and ecosystems can be safeguarded as well as the benefits these may provide to society.

This call does not define sub-themes as it aims to attract the overall best proposals in the emerging field of transformative change and biodiversity research. In addition to proven academic excellence as a prerequisite, applicants must demonstrate the potential of projects to generate high impact societal and policy knowledge on biodiversity, aiming to connect science, society, policy, and practices for transformative change. The starting point for such generation of knowledge is not defined. The scope of this call encompasses projects synthesising existing knowledge into ground-breaking insights across disciplinary boundaries as well as projects focused on new data. The call is not restricted to specific environments nor geographic areas.

Supported by the SNSF

An international panel will scientifically evaluate the pre-proposals and full proposals. With the exception of self-financed partners, all research partners in a consortium are supported by their own national or regional funding agency. Swiss-based researchers applying for financial support from the SNSF to participate in a call must meet the eligibility requirements for SNSF project funding. Along with the application to Biodiversa+, they must submit an administrative application to the SNSF by the same submission deadline. Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the SNSF Administrative Offices in advance if this will be their first time submitting an application to the SNSF. Further specifications for participation are outlined in the Funding Organisation Rules published on the Biodiversa+ website.

The submission deadline for pre-proposals is 8 November 2024 (Swiss local time).