On October 5, 2021, a webinar entitled European Biodiversity Partnership. New funds for research was hosted by the Polish Science Contact Agency of the PAS (PolSCA) in Brussels and the National Science Centre, Poland. The webinar took place a few days after the official establishment of the European co-funded Partnership on Biodiversity under Horizon Europe, which as the successor of the BiodivERsA network took over the name of Biodiversa +.
The Partnership was established on October 1, 2021, under the 2nd pillar of the Horizon Europe framework program and is co-funded by the European Commission. It acts as an European platform connecting national and regional research & innovation programmes supporting rescue and protection of biodiversity on Earth. Poland is among over 30 member states of this network and is represented by the National Science Center (NCN), which in the first call undertakes an important role of the Call Secretariat.
SCOPE OF THE MEETING
The main purpose of this information session was to present the thematic scope and requirements of the first Biodiversa+ call for international research proposals, launched on October 1 by 45 research funding agencies from 33 countries.
The meeting was opened by Prof. Robert Hasterok, a member of the NCN Council as well as Dr. Tomasz Poprawka, director of the PolSCA Office. The first speaker of the webinar was Dr. Tomasz Mróz, a representative of the National Center for Research and Development – National Contact Point (Poland). Dr. Mróz outlined the landscape of European partnerships being now created within cluster 6 of the Horizon Europe. In the next few years those partnerships aim to support transnational research and innovation corresponding to the cluster objectives.
The mission and the main goals of the Biodiversa + Partnership, as well as plans for the years to come were presented by Dr. Hilde Eggermont, Chair and Coordinator of the new Partnership. Following that part, Ms. Claire Blery (CEO Biodiversa+, French Foundation for Biodiversity Research) together with dr Sophie Germann (Biodiversa+, French National Research Agency) presented thematic scope of the call, criteria and evaluation process, as well as the call’s conditions at the international level.
The last session of the webinar was dedicated to the NCN’s national eligibility criteria to be met by all applicants from Polish organizations. All information and guidelines were provided by Ms. Anna Kotarba and Dr. Mateusz Sobczyk, the representatives of the National Science Center responsible for coordinating the Biodiversa + Partnership’s activities in Poland.
THE FIRST BIODIVERSA+ CALL
The call Supporting the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems across land and sea was announced on October 1, 2021 and aims to support transnational research projects addressing one or more of the three (non-exclusive) following themes:
- Knowledge for identifying priority conservation areas, establishing effective and resilient ecological networks, enhancing species-based protection, and preserving genetic diversity,
- Multiple benefits and costs of biodiversity and ecosystem protection: synergies and trade-offs,
- Effective management and equitable governance to deliver bold conservation outcome.
Proposals may concern terrestrial, freshwater or marine ecosystems.
Research teams are invited to create transnational research consortia with eligible partners from minimum 3 countries participating in the call (including minimum two from EU Member States or EU Associated Countries). Applicants searching for partners are encouraged to use Partner Search Tool.
The call is divided into two stages. In the first stage, joint pre-proposals should be submitted by November 30, 2021 (15.00 CET). The best research teams will be then invited to submit their joint full proposals in the second stage of the call (by April 14, 2022, 15.00 CEST). The publication of the list of projects recommended for funding is planned for September/October 2022, whereas the implementation of the projects is scheduled to start between December 1, 2022 and April 1, 2023.
All details concerning the call are available on the NCN website and on the BiodivERsA website.
Please feel also invited to participate (online) in the final conference of BiodivERsA (November 16/17, 2021) and official launch of its successor: the European Biodiversity Partnership Biodiversa+ (November 17/18, 2021). All details and registration here.
WEBINAR’S MATERIALS
- The presentation of dr Tomasz Mróz (Polish NCP/NCBR) – Horizon Europe Cluster 6. The landscape of European Partnerships
- Presentation of dr Hilde Eggermont, Claire Blery, dr Sophie Germann (Biodiversa+) – European Co-funded Partnership on Biodiversity
- Presentation of Anna Kotarba and dr Mateusz Sobczyk (NCN) – Call requirements on the national level (in Polish)
- Meeting video recording (due to technical problems, the recording covers only the 1st part of the meeting (in English), i.e. presentations by the representative of the NCP and the representatives of the Biodiversa + Partnership).
BIODIVERSA GUIDELINES
- BiodivERsA Stakeholder Engagement Handbook – researchers’ assistance on how to identify relevant stakeholders to engage with in order to enhance the impact of their work;
- BiodivERsA Policy Guide – A BiodivERsA guide on policy relevance and effective science-policy interfacing in research proposals;
- BiodivERsA Citizen Science toolkit – Toolkit aimed at researchers and scientists working in the fields of biodiversity or environmental sciences who are involved or have an interest in involving citizens in their research projects.
