Andrea Porras-Alfaro: It looks like
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: you understand,
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: mit Ctl and welcome everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today. Today we have a virtual office hours to chat about biodiversity on a changing planet, and the international aspects of this solicitation, Any other questions you may have about the solicitation and upcoming deadline one hundred and fifty.
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: This is solicitation. Twenty, three, five, four, two, and we have, please. If you have questions, submit them using the Q. And a button available to you in soon,
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: and we are going to start with introductions. My name is Andrea Porosa. I am a program director in the division of environmental biology, and then i'm going to let my colleagues to introduce themselves in the way they are listed in the slide map.
Matt Carling (he/him): Thanks, Andrea. Hi! Everyone! My name is Matt curling. I'm. A program officer in the division of environmental biology, and one of the programs that I work with is biodiversity on a changing planet. Program. So, thanks for joining us,
Colette St. Mary (she/her): I'm. Colette, St. Mary. I'm. A permanent program director in the division of integrative organismal systems and my
Colette St. Mary (she/her): program. My home program is behavioral systems.
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: He?
Rebecca Gast: Hello, everyone, i'm. Rebecca Gas and I am a program officer for antarctic organisms and ecosystems within the office of polar programs.
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: And we also have the curriculum support today of Gabriel, Christina and me that are working with us in the background as well
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: Mit. Ctl. And okay, if you would like to learn about the premiums virtual office hours that we had for biodiversity on a changing planet. I welcome you to visit our D Eb. Blog two hundred and fifty,
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: and in there you can find Ah recap of the previous, the more general virtual office hours that we had for this program, and in there you can find the slides and the information in the backy as well, and all those links for the puppy, one hundred and fifty.
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: Okay for today. If you have questions, please, a meeting, as I mentioned early in the Q. And a box in your screen,
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: you can also ah vote questions by clicking the terms of icon. Next to the question that will help us. Ah, prioritize your questions, and please, if you have a specific questions that are we getting answered today, or very specific questions about your particular project. You can also email our contact email for the program which is by your University at Insf Dot.
Matt Carling (he/him): Excellent. Thank you, Andrea.
Matt Carling (he/him): So first we just kind of wanted to give everyone a very brief overview or a reminder hopefully of the main sort of goal of the biodiversity on a changing planet program, as you can see on the slide. The main focus is the connection between functional biodiversity and biodiversity dynamics on a changing planet,
Matt Carling (he/him): and to give you a little bit of additional sort of context and information.
Matt Carling (he/him): Functional biodiversity refers to the numerous roles of traits, organisms, species, communities and ecosystem processes and natural systems. Functional biodiversity also includes the roles of emergent properties and processes across all levels of biological organization.
Matt Carling (he/him): And when we're thinking about biodiversity dynamics. It may be helpful to know that we referred about diversity dynamics as shifts in scope, structure, and interactions of biodiversity and those
Matt Carling (he/him): So the language that I just use that that we're presenting to you today all that can be found in the solicitation as well,
Matt Carling (he/him): and then as a reminder, of course hopefully. All now proposals are Day March the twenty ninth,
Matt Carling (he/him): the biodiversity on a changing planet program only works because of a great number of partnerships, both within and outside of the National Science Foundation
Matt Carling (he/him): within and Nsf. The Bocp program includes the division of environmental biology, the division of integrative organismal systems, and also the division of biological infrastructure. We're also very fortunate to be able to partner with
Matt Carling (he/him): a number of our colleagues in the Geo Directorate and the Geological Sciences, Directory, including the division of the Earth Sciences office of fuller programs in the division of ocean sciences as well.
Matt Carling (he/him): And then there are three formal international agreements in place with the Bocp program that includes agreements with the National Natural Science Foundation of China for Pespi in Sao, Paulo, Brazil,
Matt Carling (he/him): and then also the national research foundation in South Africa, and we'll talk a little bit more about what those agreements and partnerships mean. A little bit later
Matt Carling (he/him): the next slide on your end.
Matt Carling (he/him): All right.
Colette St. Mary (she/her): I still think this is correct. Yeah, Sorry I i'll jump in.
Colette St. Mary (she/her): So there are many ways that a collaboration might
Colette St. Mary (she/her): that many forms of collaboration might take and submit to this Uh Rfp.
Colette St. Mary (she/her): So, for instance, you might have a project that is simply a us-only collaboration funded by the you know, funded by the Nsa.
Colette St. Mary (she/her): You might also have a us-only collaboration with international collaborators involved in the project
Colette St. Mary (she/her): not necessarily from the partner countries that we're working with for bilateral
Colette St. Mary (she/her): past submissions.
Colette St. Mary (she/her): And so, then the third form is international collaboration, where us researchers are funded by the Nsf. But partners from China, South Africa, and Brazil, collaborating on the project are funded by our partner agencies.
Colette St. Mary (she/her): All of these are options. There are no preferences for any of these different types.
Colette St. Mary (she/her): We have two funding tracks, a design track which is intended to help build teams with no prior collaboration, and enable them in future to apply for an implementation award.
Colette St. Mary (she/her): The intent here is to develop creative research and technical approaches, and these awards are up to five hundred thousand for three years of support.
Colette St. Mary (she/her): The implementation track supports teams that are already
Colette St. Mary (she/her): poised to implement large-scale projects, and these should involve substantial research advances in understanding functional biodiversity on a changing planet.
Colette St. Mary (she/her): These awards can be up to two point five million, and for up to five years
Matt Carling (he/him): excellent. Thank you, Colette.
Matt Carling (he/him): So one of the sort of large overarching goals of the Boc program is to support integrative research,
Matt Carling (he/him): he said.
Matt Carling (he/him): What that means is that we're really interested in supporting projects that will test novel hypotheses about functional biodiversity and its connection to shifting biodiversity dynamics on a changing planet. This can consider climatic,
Matt Carling (he/him): climactic, geological, paleontological, and biological processes.
Matt Carling (he/him): We also think that integrative research is likely to combine multiple perspectives. This can include organismal species, ecological, evolutionary, phylogenetic, geological, and or paleontological approaches
Matt Carling (he/him): across all sorts of various scales. You don't need to include all of those perspectives. But again, the point is is that we welcome and encourage projects that consider multiple perspectives,
Matt Carling (he/him): proposals that seek to improve predictive capability about functional biodiversity across both temporal and spatial scales. By considering the linkages between past, present, and future, biological, climatic, and geological processes are also encouraged.
So we want to stress that Um:
Colette St. Mary (she/her): The Ocp encourages the use of new technology and team science approaches. And, for instance, that really means that you may be building on existing data infrastructure. So proposals that are adding
Colette St. Mary (she/her): to or using existed existing infrastructure are encouraged,
Colette St. Mary (she/her): and even projects that are based entirely in data reuse may be appropriate and are well welcome.
Colette St. Mary (she/her): It's it's noteworthy that proposals centered on polar or marine environments.
Colette St. Mary (she/her): See, it may seek some uh
Colette St. Mary (she/her): support for
Colette St. Mary (she/her): shift time, for instance or logistical support. And if that is the case for you, you should reach out to the member of the working group. Um, One of the Geo members of the working group to discuss the support for those logistics in your proposal, and of
Colette St. Mary (she/her): in particular, for instance, the support for ship time will need to be accompanied by a Eunol's request, and i'll put that link into the chat now.
Rebecca Gast: So if you're thinking about, including international work in your Bocp proposal, there are a couple of things to ask yourself. Think about the mutual goals and benefits of working with people inside and outside of the Us. Um! How that can help your project to grow.
Rebecca Gast: What interests and resources and skills does each party bring to the partnership You're going to need to build a strong case for including these collaborators.
Rebecca Gast: Then how can that partnership best be structured? What will help to make the science best go forward next slide, please.
Rebecca Gast: So, as I was mentioned before. There are sort of three types of international work supported for the Bocp
Rebecca Gast: the first one,
Rebecca Gast: if you're just working in a location outside of the Us. Because you need to have permitting or environmental clients. You'll need to make sure that that's taken care of, and you need to budget for your funds for international travel. That's very important.
Rebecca Gast: If you have just a little bit of international collaboration. Nsf. Funds can be used to support that collaborator or the International Infrastructure, and i'll talk about a little bit about that in the next slide,
Rebecca Gast: and third is the one where you have a very large international collaboration, and your partners from China, South Africa, or Sao Paulo, actually submit the proposal to their respective funding funding agencies for support
Rebecca Gast: on the next slide, please.
Rebecca Gast: So there may be some questions about this second type of international collaboration Where the international partner receives Nsf. Funds,
Rebecca Gast: they can be used to support collaborators outside of the Us. In some special circumstances.
Rebecca Gast: Um, when local support
Rebecca Gast: or sport in the Us. Is not feasible, and the foreign organization will carry out the activity more effectively than could be done in the Us. You can request Nsf. Funds to support that,
Rebecca Gast: and the foreign organization would contribute a unique
Rebecca Gast: structure or facility or geographic location, with access to unique data race sources not generally available to the Us. Or other resources that are essential to discuss it.
Rebecca Gast: Oh's project
Rebecca Gast: and or the foreign organization to be supported, offers significant science and engineering, education, training, or research opportunities to the Us. Collaborators. Under these conditions you can request support for those collaborators
Rebecca Gast: Next slide, please.
Rebecca Gast: Oh, didn't even next slide just the next bullets. Um! How do you request these funds? They can be found or requested in Section G three, which is consultant services or G five with some awards.
Rebecca Gast: International collaborators themselves can also be supported as participants in budget category. F participant support costs.
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: Okay, if you are Um. So meeting for an international collaboration,
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: the submission of Nsf. And the international collaborative proposals are described in that solicitation, and there you can find all the different links and deadlines for those submissions two hundred and fifty.
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: There are a specific separate agreements and Nsf. In this case, as the lead agency in review. In collaboration with our partner agencies in China, in Sao, Paulo, Brazil, and South Africa.
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: These international partnerships, the international collaborative proposals are expected to adhere to the eligibility requirements,
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: the found, the limits, the grand duration for the agency from which they are seeking funding. In this case, Nsf. And must represent an integrative collaborative effort. One hundred and fifty
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: there could be multilateral projects. That means that you can have projects supported by Nsa. And, for example, you can have a project that has still work in Brazil or South Africa or Brazil and China, and those will be considered
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: if an international collaborative proposal is awarded, the you as researchers will receive funding from, and and the international researchers will receive funding from the International Partner Agency.
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: And of course, as we already mentioned, These agreements do not recruit other international collaborations.
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: When you, as a meeting a proposal for international work, just a reminder that in the cover page. You are going to find a specific.
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: I'm. Sure It'
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: Yes, right uh. You will find a specific uh boxes and the cover page that uh, allow you to indicate if you have international activities uh, even including just travel to a conference, and you will be able to mark that in the cover page. But they are specific boxes for funding with the International Branch campus Uh, with a foreign organization for any individual. And, as I mentioned already, the International
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: uh to consider the international partnerships with Uh by Ocp.
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: They because we mentioned already that complete proposal must be submitted to Nsa. But our dead language is March the twenty ninth.
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: Ah, please know that additional documents are needed to describe the nature of the international partnership. There are budget bias, stations, letters of collaborations, the institutional endurance for the international component on the Nsf side,
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: and researchers will be submitting identical proposals and additional materials to their partner agencies.
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: Biological pis and they have a specific deadlines highlighted in this as long March the twenty nine
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: Ah! For our colleagues in China, March twenty, four for our colleagues in South Africa and March thirtieth for our colleagues in Brazil,
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: and as we discussed the Proposal review will occur under the many review criteria listed in the solicitation in an
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: and that's the major information we have for you today, please. We welcome you to submit your questions in the Q. And A. Box into the screen, and, as I mentioned earlier, you can upload questions by clicking on terms up one.
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: Okay, I'm gonna stop sharing that. I can see all the program directors, and then we can go over for the questions.
Andrea Porras-Alfaro: Okay?