Purpose
Institutional biodiversity data mobilization grants aim to strengthen institutional data management capacity and mobilize policy-relevant biodiversity data to support national and regional priorities.
Specific grant objectives include:
- Building institutional capacity in eligible countries to manage and mobilize biodiversity data effectively
- Increasing the accessibility of open biodiversity data during and beyond the project period
- Promoting the application of biodiversity data to inform policies and decision-making processes
Projects must include activities in each of the following two areas:
1. Mobilizing biodiversity data
Activities in this area should focus on digitizing and sharing existing sources of biodiversity data through GBIF. Examples include:
- Establishing institutional data-publishing workflows that benefit the institution and encourage sustainable data mobilization efforts.
- Training data holders on best-practice data mobilization and management strategies.
- Compiling inventories of biodiversity data holdings, such as metadata catalogues.
- Digitizing and publishing biodiversity data from biological collections, monitoring activities, DNA metabarcoding, literature or citizen science projects, and other related areas.
- Validating and publishing relevant taxonomic checklists.
2. Supporting the integration of biodiversity information into research and policymaking processes
Activities in this area should demonstrate the practical use of open biodiversity data. Examples include:
- Organizing surveys or workshops to understand the biodiversity data requirements for specific use cases.
- Creating user groups to guide project implementation.
- Promoting the use of open biodiversity data in national-level or regional-level reporting and policies.
- Workshops on biodiversity data analysis and use.
- Documenting and disseminating biodiversity data use cases and best practices in the region.
Funding
Maximum funding: €30,000 per project
Eligible costs:
BID programme funds may be used to cover staff time, travel, and costs associated with the organization of meetings and events, and limited costs for IT services and equipment. Expenses should be related to activities organized by the project within the two areas identified above.
Limited eligible costs of IT services and equipment:
BID funds may be used to cover up to a maximum of €3000 of the costs of any IT services or purchases. Such equipment includes, but is not limited to:
- Computer equipment (laptops, desktop computers, servers, hard drives, printers)
- Software licences and subscriptions
- Digital cameras and scanners
- Other electrical equipment and electronics
- Lab equipment (microscopes, sequencing equipment, etc.)
Ineligible costs:
Fieldwork, new data collection, or laboratory research are not covered by BID funding but may be supported by other sources and included as part of the co-funding committed by the applicant.
The full grant will be awarded to the project lead organization. This organization will be responsible for managing the project's finances, operations, and delivering progress reports and supporting documents as required.
The exact amount of financial support for each selected project will depend on the detailed budget provided in the full project proposal. This budget must be submitted by the applicant and approved by the selection committee.
Eligibility Criteria
General Requirements:
- Applicants must be legal entities located in eligible countries in the Pacific. Legal entities include: national government agencies, GBIF Participant nodes and their host institutions, natural history museums and biological collections, research institutes, universities, and non-governmental organizations. Organizations with a legal presence in an eligible country (e.g. a branch or regional office), but headquartered in a non-eligible country, will be considered eligible provided they submit their application through their local entity.
- Concept notes and full proposals must be submitted in English through the GBIF Grants Portal by the stated deadlines.
- All BID activities must be non-profit.
- Applicants must commit co-funding (in-kind or cash). Co-funding refers to real costs that are incurred by the applicants while executing the funded project’s activities. Co-funding contributions below 25% of the total budget will be regarded as poor value for money.
- Data and outputs generated by the project must be shared openly accessible under CC0 1.0 or a CC BY 4.0 licence to GBIF.
Specific requirements for Institutional Grants:
- Projects must include activities in each of the two areas listed above.
- The project lead organization must manage the grant and coordinate activities.
- Applications must include a major component of data mobilization through the GBIF network. It is expected that at least 50% of BID funding is directed towards data mobilization activities.
For further questions, please contact BID@gbif.org.