Belmont Forum and Future Earth Call on Transdisciplinary Research Out September or October 2018

The Belmont Forum, in collaboration with Future Earth, will in September or October 2018 launch a call aiming at bringing together researchers and other expertise across the globe to innovate solutions to accelerate sustainable use of oceans and minimize the effects from global change.

This Collaborative Research Action (CRA) call aims to contribute to the overall challenge of ocean sustainability, with the UN Sustainable Development Goal no. 14 (Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development) as the overall framework. Because the challenge is complex, there is a need for integrated, interdisciplinary and cross sectoral approaches, bringing together natural and social sciences, as well as policymakers, resource managers, industries, citizens and other societal partners. Research consortia shall address one or both of the following topics:

Topic 1 – Pathways toward a sustainable and equitable use of oceans
This topic focuses on the environmental, social, cultural and economic impacts of living and non-living resource extraction (e.g. fisheries, aquaculture, dredging, mining of sand and minerals), and non-extractive industries (e.g. shipping, tourism). Research in this area should address the impacts of economic activities on ecosystems, human societies including human health and well-being, cultures and economies, as well as the capacities of social systems to respond to these impacts.

Topic 2 – Accounting for and minimizing impacts of global change
Our capacity to sustainably use the oceans depends on our understanding of the multi-scale changes in ocean systems, and the additive or synergistic effects of the multiple causes of these changes. Applications addressing this topic should include research on the interactions between stressors, such as climate change, ocean acidification, pollution, deoxygenation and food scarcity; biological processes such as range shifts and biodiversity changes; and ocean dynamics, such as circulation, temperature, and sea level changes.

Given the complexity and scope of the challenges, research consortia must be truly transdisciplinary, thus including researchers from: a) social sciences/humanities/economy and b) natural sciences/technology, as well as c) societal partners (i.e. citizens, civil society organizations), using a co-design, co-development and co-implementation approach.

A key criterion is that research consortia shall be supported financially by at least three partner agencies in three different countries from at least two continents. Consortium partners that are not eligible for funding from any of the participating funding agencies can participate in the research project at their own expense.

This call aims to support medium-sized research projects with 3 to 4 years duration. A two-step process will apply, with a mandatory pre-registration of projects at the first step, and submission of full proposals at the second step.

More information will be available in late September 2018 – please consult your national funder(s) or the Belmont Forum web site: https://belmontforum.org.

Photo Credit Matt Kieffer

*This news has been edited to specify the timeframe in months.