The Wellcome Trust has recently announced the call for proposals, Digital Technology Development Awards on Climate-Sensitive Infectious Disease Modelling, on their webpage. This solicitation aims to provide funding for software developers from all disciplines and career stages to develop digital tools that will enhance climate-sensitive infectious disease modelling. Projects should deliver an open-source digital technology that will increase the impact of research in addressing health threats. Please note that this solicitation is open for all countries in the Americas Region, and proposals are due on March 31, 2022.
NASA Solicitation: Earth Science Applications: Health And Air Quality (Due June 18, 2021)
NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) has recently announced the release of its annual omnibus solicitation for basic and applied research, Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (ROSES) 2021 as NNH21ZDA001N, on the NSPIRES web page. Element A.37, “Earth Science Applications: Health and Air Quality Applications,” seeks proposals for projects that apply Earth observations that will improve/develop decision-making activities and enable transition and adoption by public- and/or private-sector organization(s) for sustained use in decision making and services to end users. The specific focus is on applications and decision support in the areas of public health and air quality. Through the integration of Earth observations, the overall objective of these projects is to enhance the performance of existing decision-making activities or to develop new capabilities for decision making where the need and activity can be clearly defined. The organizations that will implement improvements and operate the decision-making activity are expected to be substantially involved in the project and to be expressly committed to maintain, support, and sustainably use the Earth observations application resulting from the project in their decision-making activity. Please note that this solicitation is open, and proposals are due on June 18, 2021.
GEO Sustainable Development Goals Awards Program (Due June 30, 2019)
The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) has launched the Earth Observations for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Awards, in efforts to recognize the innovation for initiatives related to SDGs and outstanding scientific achievements in Earth observations. The Earth Observations for the Sustainable Development Goals (EO4SDG), of the GEO Work Programme, encourages the submission of nominations for initiatives that aim to advance reporting on SDG targets or indicators. Nominations are invited for sectoral (e.g. GEO Member Countries, GEO Participating Organizations, SDG Custodian Agencies, GEO Work Programme Elements, non-for-profit organizations, academia) and special (e.g., innovation, testimonial/example, statistical-geospatial data integration) categories. Nominations can be submitted until June 30, 2019. Final award decisions will be announced in September 2019, and the award ceremony will be held during GEO Week 2019 in November 2019.
To learn more about this GEO award opportunity, please read the GEO press release and visit the GEO SDG Awards Program website to download the nominations form and review frequently asked questions. For additional questions related to nomination submissions, please contact the GEO EO4SDG’s Executive Secretary, Argyro Kavvada.
Call for Proposals: Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Actions
The Belmont Forum has established collaborative research actions that promote transdisciplinary research to further address and understand global environmental change. These collaborative research actions aim to describe the Belmont Challenge priorities, recognize current resources and investments among Belmont Forum stakeholders, and foster new scientific partnerships. The call for proposals includes three environmental topics: Climate, Environment and Health, Disaster Risk, Reduction and Resilience, and Resilience in Rapidly Changing Arctic Systems. Proposals should include collaborators from at least three countries as well as the participation of natural scientists, social scientists, and stakeholders. For more information about this call for proposals, please review the Belmont Forum Opportunities webpage and view the Tutorial for Potential Applicants video.
Call for Applications: GEO – Amazon Earth Observation Cloud Credits Programme (Due March 31, 2019)
In December 2018, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) formally announced their partnership to provide cloud credits that facilitate the storage, process, and analysis of Earth observation data used to inform decision-making for environmental and sustainable development goals. GEO member agencies and research institutions, which are classified as developing countries by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), are eligible to apply for three-year projects that address these development goals, such as the Paris Agreement, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Applications can be submitted for a single country (up to $60,000 of AMS cloud credits) or multiple countries (up to $100,000 of AMS cloud credits) until March 31, 2019. Final decisions will be announced by April 30, 2019, and AMS cloud credits will be applied by May 31, 2019. Please visit the GEO website to learn more about the application criteria and other frequently asked questions. For additional questions, please contact the GEO Secretariat’s Senior Scientific Advisor, Douglas Cripe.
Call for Proposals: European Space Agency – Future Earth Joint Activities (Due November 2, 2018)
In efforts to strengthen partnership activities between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Future Earth, there is a second call for proposals that promote the use of Earth observation data and tools to support Future Earth’s research objectives and meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals. These proposals should focus on one of three key topics: engaging new research communities, novel uses of ESA Earth observation data, or the exploitation of essential climate variable datasets from ESA’s Climate Change Initiative. Applications will be accepted until November 2, 2018, and four successful proposals (up to €12,000) will be selected in late November 2018. For more information, please review the guidelines on the ESA – Future Earth Joint Activities Call for Proposals 2018.
Additionally, there will be a quarterly call for travel funds for Future Earth members to attend ESA-organized and supported meetings and engage with the Earth observation community. For more information, please review the ESA – Future Earth guidelines and application form.
For additional questions, please contact the ESA – Future Earth Liaison Officer, Cat Downy.
European Commission “Early Warning for Epidemics” Solicitation (Due September 1, 2020)
Vector-borne diseases, or those bacterial, viral or parasitic diseases transmitted by a vector (e.g., mosquito, fleas, flies, sandflies, ticks), cause significant morbidity and mortality across the world, especially to tropical and subtropical geographic regions. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vector-borne diseases (17% of all infectious diseases) increase health burden, causing more than 700,000 annual global deaths.
To address this challenge, the European Commission has taken one step forward to lead global efforts to identify an effective approach toward the coordination of an early warning system for infectious disease epidemics. Of the six European Innovation Council (EIC) Horizon Prizes, one EIC Horizontal Prize is focused on the “Early Warning for Epidemics”. Applications will be accepted until September 1, 2020, and funding (up to €5 million value) will be awarded in the first quarter of 2021.
Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, stated, “Every year there are over one million reported deaths from vector-borne diseases globally. Their societal impact is significant, often causing disability, stigmatisation and exacerbating poverty. This EIC prize will be a launchpad for innovators to find solutions that help prevent future outbreaks and improve life quality.”
For more information regarding the contest rules and application process, please visit the EIC Horizon Prize webpage and view the Early Warning for Epidemics infographic.
NASA Solicitation: Earth Science Applications: Health and Air Quality (Due November 3, 2017)
Solicitation: NNH17ZDA001N-HAQ
Due November, 3, 2017
The NASA Earth Science Division (ESD) seeks proposals for projects that apply Earth observations that will improve/develop decision-making activities and enable transition and adoption by public- and/or private-sector organization(s) for sustained use in decision making and services to end users. The specific focus is on applications and decision support in the areas of public health and air quality.
Through the integration of Earth observations, the overall objective of these projects is to enhance the performance of existing decision-making activities or to develop new capabilities for decision making where the need and activity can be clearly defined. The organizations that will implement improvements and operate the decision-making activity are expected to be substantially involved in the project and to be expressly committed to maintain, support, and sustainably use the Earth observations application resulting from the project in their decision-making activity.
NASA Earth Science Division to Select Proposals Advancing GEO Work Programme 2017-2019
In November 2016, NASA’s Earth Science Division (ESD) released a solicitation for proposals to advance specific elements of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Work Programme 2017-2019. With this solicitation, NASA hopes to engage organizations, especially non-Federal domestic organizations, in contributing to and achieving progress on the GEO Work Programme.
The GEO Work Programme is “the primary coordination and planning instrument to assist GEO with the selection and prioritization of its activities to achieve its Vision.” This vision – To realize a future where decisions and actions, for the benefit of humankind, are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observation information and services – is being realized though GEO Community Activities, GEO Initiatives, GEO Flagships and GEO Foundational Tasks, which form GEO’s implementation toolkit.
The key objectives of NASA’s solicitation include:
• Achieve demonstrable progress, results, and accomplishments in specific elements of the GEO Work Programme;
• Advance use of Earth observations to inform decisions and actions;
• Advance and broaden domestic involvement in the U.S. national support to GEO and the GEO Work Programme;
• Increase the uptake of Earth observations to inform decisions and actions and broaden the organizations routinely using them;
• Increase international collaboration and partnering across GEO and broaden the GEO community;
The solicitation called for activities including projects, studies, workshops, and trainings, and it involves innovative communications work. The solicitation also called for these activities to coordinate with global organizations that are involved with the specific work element(s) they address.
NASA is currently completing its evaluations of submitted proposals, collected through March 2017, to identify those that help increase GEO’s achievements, and enable greater uses of Earth observations to benefit the private sector, civil society, academia, public sector, and the public. Proposals will be reviewed for various criteria, including their plans to address: 1) the identification of possible data products (or refinements) that would advance the use of Earth observations by communities associated with the GEO Work Programme element and other communities; or 2) applications development and applied research, if appropriate to the element.
The call encourages innovative approaches, both technical and programmatic, to enable the objectives of the GEO Work Programme element. Examples include, integrating crowdsourcing and challenges into project design. Additionally, the scope of this call includes significant external communications and outreach to engage and work with relevant organizations, and to showcase the value and benefits of Earth observations across the range of Earth satellite missions and observation types. However, basic research is outside the scope of this call.
This call for proposals and the awards are being managed by ESD’s Applied Sciences Program. The Program promotes efforts to discover and demonstrate innovative and practical uses of Earth science data and knowledge. Program activities support goals to deliver near-term uses of Earth observations, build capabilities for applying Earth science data, and contribute to satellite mission planning.