START Grants for Global Environmental Change Research in Africa
14 July 2009
START, the global change SysTem for Analysis, Research and Training (www.start.org) is pleased to announce a Call for Proposals for research and assessments of global environmental change (GEC) in Africa in the context of the Joint Projects of the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP).
Proposals must be relevant to one or more of the following four ESSP Joint Projects:
- Global Carbon Project (http://www.essp.org/index.php?id=16&L=en)
- Global Environmental Change and Food Systems (http://www.essp.org/index.php?id=15&L=en)
- Global Water Systems Project (http://www.essp.org/index.php?id=14)
- Global Environmental Change and Human Health (http://www.essp.org/index.php?id=13)
The proposed activities must also:
- consider issues of changing ecosystem goods and services in relation to sustainable livelihoods and development;
- explictly address local, sub-regional and regional scale; and
- foster inter-disciplinary collaboration among natural sciences and social sciences.
The Science Plans developed by the African scientific community form the basis of this Call for Proposals. The funding for these awards is drawn from a grant from the US Global Change Research Program/US National Science Foundation. Therefore, proposals should also address the US Climate Change Science Program goal: “Understanding the sensitivity and adaptability of different natural and managed ecosystems and human systems to climate and related global changes.”
Eligible proposals must be a collaboration among multiple investigators. Investigator teams must comprise either:
- 3 African scientists at the same institution with complementary skills and expertise, with one serving as the Principal Investigator + 2 co-Investigators, or
- 3 African scientists from different institutions, with one serving as the Principal Investigator + 2 co-Investigators.
Proposals that do not meet these criteria will not be considered for funding.
Under this call, START will fund 4 such collaborating groups for the period of approximately one year. Awards will not exceed US$45,000 per collaborating group. The proposal should designate a Principal Investigator, whose institution will serve as the Contractor to receive and distribute the funds as appropriate. The financial regulations for the use of funds are included on pages 3 and 4 of this document.
Outputs: In addition to submitting a final project report and final financial report to START, each collaborating group is expected to submit at least one paper to a peer-reviewed journal.
START intends to announce future calls for GEC research in Africa during 2010.
Timelines:
- 11 July 2009: Announcement of the Call for Proposals
- 30 August 2009: Proposals due at Midnight (24:00 hours) US Eastern Time at the International START Secretariat office. Electronic submissions of the completed CFP template are to be sent to: start-proposals@agu.org
- 30 September 2009: Award decisions
- 01 October 2009: Award funds available: (note financial guidelines)
- 01 September 2010: Final reports due.
The following reference material may be helpful in designing the proposals:
- The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: “Ecosystems and Human Well-Being”: http://www.greenfacts.org/en/ecosystems/index.htm
- “Convenient Solutions and an Inconvenient Truth: Ecosystem–based Approaches to Climate Change”: http://climate-l.org/2009/07/06/world-bank-publishes-report-on-ecosystem-based-approaches-to-climate-change/
- The ecoServices Science Plan of DIVERSITAS: http://www.diversitas-international.org/index.php?page=core_ecoserv_response
Inquiries
Charles S. Kauffman, cskauffman@agu.org
International START Secretariat 2000
Florida Ave. NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel: +-202-462-2213, Fax: +-202-457-5859
