Deadline: June 24, 2024
Applications for the GBIF Graduate Researchers Award 2024 are now open. This annual programme aims to foster and recognize innovative research and discovery in biodiversity informatics by graduate students whose master’s and doctoral studies rely on GBIF-mediated data.
GBIF—the Global Biodiversity Information Facility—is an international network and research infrastructure funded by the world’s governments and aimed at providing anyone, anywhere, open access to data about all types of life on Earth.
Award
- The 2024 programme will provide a pair of €5,000 prizes recognizing the work of two early-career researchers—preferably, one master’s and one PhD candidate—who receive formal nominations from the heads of delegation or node managers of GBIF Participant countries.
Eligibility
- Applicants must provide a letter of support attesting to their affiliation with a graduate university program to be eligible for the award.
- Applicants must be either:
- citizens of a GBIF participating country OR
- students of an institution located in a GBIF participating country.
- Nominations may come from the GBIF delegation or the node of the applicant’s country of citizenship or the country of the applicant’s host institution.
Selection Criteria
The GBIF Scientific Committee will review the nominations and select the winners of the Graduate Scholar Awards.
The criteria for awarding the prizes are as follows:
- Originality and innovation
- The use and strategic importance of GBIF-accessible data
- Measurable effectiveness and impact to advance biodiversity informatics and/or biodiversity conservation.
Proposals that are not selected may be updated and resubmitted for consideration in subsequent years.
Nomination
Candidates should prepare their proposal and nomination packets to include:
- Research summary (200 words)
- Project description (maximum 5 pages, 12-point Arial) that describes
- How the research advances biodiversity informatics and/or the conservation of biological diversity.
- The role of data accessed through GBIF in addressing these questions. Research proposals must clearly demonstrate how the study incorporates data mobilized through GBIF. Students with questions about GBIF-enabled data should work with academic advisors, their GBIF national node, the GBIF Secretariat or members of the Science Committee to increase their understanding.
- The research scope, plan, methodologies, relevant literature citations and timetable.
- If relevant, a description or an excerpt from a data management plan that outlines how data related to the research is published or will be prepared for publication through the GBIF network to GBIF.org.
- Curriculum vitae of the student applicant including full contact information at the home institution.
- Supporting documents
- An official letter from the student’s faculty mentor/supervisor certifying that the applicant is a student in good standing in the graduate programme of the university.
- At least one, and no more than three, letters of support from established researchers active in a field that encompasses and incorporates biodiversity informatics (e.g., genetics, species composition and traits, biogeography, ecology, systematics, et al.)
Submission Process
- Students seeking nomination must apply to the Head of Delegation or node manager of a GBIF Voting or Associate Participant country (see the complete list). National participants are responsible for establishing their own deadlines and processes for receiving and processing student applications. As a result, graduate students who seek nomination should consult the websites of their national GBIF Participants or contact the Head of Delegation or node manager directly.
- Student proposals are first reviewed and prioritized at the national level. GBIF national nodes are encouraged to work closely with the academic communities and higher education institutions in their countries and to reach out to relevant university programmes and research groups.
- National Heads of Delegation and/or node managers may submit a maximum of two nominees per country to the GBIF Secretariat to gradresearchersaward@GBIF.org by the deadline for submissions: 24 June 2024. Heads of Delegations in cooperation with node managers will ensure that submissions are complete and include all the elements listed. Submissions of incomplete proposals will not be considered.
For more information, visit GBIF Award.
