The Belmont Forum announces funding decisions for recent calls on the themes of Coastal Vulnerability and Freshwater Security. These awards provide support to transdisciplinary, multinational consortia to engage in global change research through an 11-country joint research initiative supported by the Belmont Forum and G8 Heads of Research Councils. Consortia are comprised of natural scientists, social scientists and end-users, policy makers, and associated stakeholders. The goal of these research programs is to accelerate delivery of knowledge needed for action to mitigate and adapt to detrimental environmental change and extreme hazardous events within the thematic areas of either Coastal Vulnerability or Freshwater Security.

The Belmont Forum/G8HORCs Panel of Experts (PoE) meetings for the Freshwater Security and Coastal Vulnerability themes were held in late March, 2013. PoE recommendations for funding have been transmitted to national funding agencies for final decisions.

The International Social Science Council (ISSC) and the International Council for Science (ICSU), in collaboration with the German Research Foundation (DFG) are hosting a Young Scientists Networking Conference for Post-Doctoral Researchers Interested in Collaboration Between the Social and Natural Sciences.

Expert Reviewer Registration is open for the Working Group I second order draft contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. The review will continue from October 5th through November 30th, 2012.

Earthquakes, floods, and weather extremes are among a range of societal hazards that are increasingly studied by national and international researchers, but the absence of international collaboration and coordination is increasingly leading to inefficiencies and lost opportunities. The world’s major funders of global change research are considering how best to align financial and human capital toward delivering the relevant knowledge that society will need in the 21st century. The Belmont Forum (named after the group’s first meeting venue in Maryland in 2009) meets twice a year and is composed of funding executives from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Norway, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Commission, together with the executive directors of the International Council for Science (ICSU) and International Social Sciences Council (ISSC).

The International Opportunities Fund National Annex for India is now available on the “National Information” page.

In the context of its Climate and Global Environmental Change Design Project, the International Social Science Council (ISSC) has worked with the support of Swedish Sida and the cooperation of key partners to develop a consolidated, global social science research agenda on climate and global environmental change.

The Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) is inviting proposals under two separate programmes, the Annual Regional Call for Research Proposals (ARCP) Programme and the Scientific Capacity Building/Enhancement for Sustainable Development in Developing Countries (CAPaBLE) Programme, for funding from April 2013, and is able to provide a limited amount of financial support for research and capacity development activities that fall within its areas of interest.

One of PROVIA’s four initial activities is the revision of guidance on assessing vulnerability, impacts and adaptation to climate change.

A major five-day Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development will be held on 11-15 June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the days just prior to the Rio+20 Conference. The Forum will bring together leading international scientists and policy-makers to explore the key role of interdisciplinary science and innovation in the transition to sustainable development, a green economy and poverty eradication. The aim is to help establish the research, technology and policy agendas that will be needed after Rio+20.