QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER — DEC. 2018
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Exploring Added Value and Building Community
Project teams from three different Belmont Forum CRA’s came together for a valorization event in Washington, DC on 8-10 December 2018. The event marked the end-term valorization for the joint Belmont Forum – FACCE-JPI Food Security and Land Use Change projects, who were able to transfer knowledge and connect with mid-term participants from the Arctic Observing and Science for Sustainability and Mountains of Sentinels of Change cohorts. The group was not just global, but also very productive, as they were able to develop with the IAN facilitation team a 16-page synthesis document over the weekend! The document will be made available on the Belmont Forum website in early 2019. Thanks to all who made this an invaluable engagement.
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SRI2020 Launch
Belmont Forum and Future Earth are joining forces to establish an annual convention to support global transformation to sustainability. This
will be an opportunity for the world’s foremost research and innovation communities to come together to share successes, exchange views, and work across disciplines and sectors to support a global transformation to sustainability.
Sustainability Research and Innovation (SRI) 2020 will be the first in an annual congress series that will serve as a focal point in the sustainability science and innovation calendar, providing broad networking, training, and knowledge exchange opportunities. As such, the meeting series is being designed as an umbrella under which side events, special sessions, mentoring, valorization, capacity-building and town hall activities will take place to support a vibrant, diverse, and growing community.
Those interested in hosting the first annual convention should complete the interest form available on the
SRI 2020 website. Hosting applications will be accepted until
March 1, 2019.
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e-I&DM FAIR Data Initiative
We are delighted to announce that the e-I&DM Enabling FAIR Data Project has reached a significant milestone with the announcement of the
Commitment Statement
reflecting distinct stakeholder perspectives and roles, and
defining the goals for the many communities that
collectively support open and FAIR data
. We invite you, your organization, and colleagues to consider a commitment to open and FAIR data by becoming a signatory.
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CRA Funding Updates
We are now accepting pre-proposals on
Transdisciplinary Research for Ocean Sustainability through our
BFgo system! Deadline for pre-registration is Thursday,
January 31, 2019. For more information on this joint call with Future Earth and JPI-Oceans and the application process, please check out the Belmont Forum website, where you can also find links to training modules for proposers on the
Belmont Forum you
Tube channel. If you are looking for proposal partners, we encourage you to join the
Future Earth Open Network.
We are also excited to announce two more CRAs coming out in early 2019:
· Disaster Risk, Response and Resilience (DR
3)
· Resilience in Rapidly Changing Arctic Systems (Arctic II)
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AGU Participation a Success!
The Belmont Forum community was extremely active at the AGU2018 Centennial Meeting in Washington, DC! From expert panels on open data to townhalls on transdisciplinary best practices, engagement at the Belmont Forum and other member and partner exhibits, and many Belmont Forum awardee talks and posters, there was a very full calendar. It was an excellent opportunity to connect with Belmont Forum projects and our member organizations while also advancing some of our developing funding actions.
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Belmont Forum Widens Regional Outreach!
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This quarter, Belmont Forum Secretariat Director, Erica Key, traveled to meet with National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) President Jinghai Li to discuss NSFC’s roadmap to fund more transdisciplinary science. She also visited the Asia-Pacific Network office in Kobe, Japan to discuss possible joint events to boost connectivity with Asia and Oceania.
In Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, Erica presented to the 3
rd
Annual Forum of the Science Granting Councils Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa (SGCI). The Initiative aims to strengthen the capacities of 15 science granting councils in Sub-Saharan Africa to support research and evidence-based policies that will contribute to economic and social development. Belmont Forum hopes to continue working with resource providers in Africa to elevate African scientific priorities in global partnerships.
Closer to the Secretariat headquarters in Montevideo, Erica joined her IAI host partners at a UNDP workshop on South-South Cooperation. She will continue working with IAI to bolster participation of the Global South in the Belmont Forum and facilitate south-south partnerships in CRAs.
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The Forum Convenes at the Royal Society
Thank you to NERC for hosting a productive plenary meeting at the Royal Society in London. The 3-day meeting strengthened our priorities in transdisciplinary research and initiated a positive discussion about our 10-year anniversary next year. A special showcase event at Lancaster House brought together Belmont Forum project participants with distinguished guests from UK scientific leadership. We look forward to our next convening in Taipei during the week of October 21, 2019.
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GRANTEE NEWS
Belmont Forum Award featured in
Nature
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Carolina Vera was recently featured in
Nature as part of a special issue on “Science Shared”. Carolina is the Lead PI from the
CLIMAX (Climate Services through Knowledge Co-Production: A South American Initiative for Strengthening Societal Adaptation Response to Extreme Events) project, funded under the Climate Predictability and Inter-Regional Linkages Call.
The article entitled “
Farmers transformed how we investigate climate” highlights the added value of their inclusion and interaction with farmers in developing and implementing their Belmont Forum project.
Adopting this approach to research can certainly be “circuitous and unpredictable” as Prof. Vera says, “but ultimately is more worthwhile.”
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SEI Awards Announced
The newest Belmont Forum projects to be awarded were announced this week. We would like to congratulate the following projects which are receiving funding in the Science-driven e-Innovation and Infrastructure CRA.
ACCEDE -
Abrupt Change in Climate and Ecosystems: Where are the Tipping Points?
Project Lead: Nicholas McKay, Northern Arizona University
PARSEC
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Building New Tools for Data Sharing and Reuse through a Transnational Investigation of the Socioeconomic Impacts of Protected Areas
Project Lead: Alison Specht, Fondation pour la Recherche sur la Biodiversité
WWW.PIC
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World Wide Web of Plankton Image Curation
Project Lead: Jean-Olivier Irisson, Sorbonne Université
These projects will make strong links among science, innovation, and user communities to increase uptake of new and potentially disruptive demonstrators or pilots toward solutions.
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EVENTS
Upcoming Events
We have a busy calendar in the first quarter of 2019. Connect with us at these events!
14-16 January
Global Commons Alliance Meeting
· Potsdam, Germany
21 January
Science-based Targets Network Meeting
· Zug, Switzerland
31 January
Due date for Ocean Sustainability pre-registrations at bfgo.org
6-8 February
Leverage Points 2019 Conference
· Lüneberg, Germany
7 February
· Lüneburg, Germany
14-17 February
AAAS Annual Meeting on Science Transcending Boundaries
· Washington, DC, USA
9-15 March
UN Environment Assembly and Science, Policy, Business Forum
· Nairobi, Kenya
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
Welcome to new AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellows working with Belmont Forum!
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Judit Ungvari-Martin is an ecologist by training, with expertise in aspects of biodiversity research and avian biology in tropical habitats. She studied birds in the Peruvian Amazon region combining both lab- and field-based techniques and received her Ph.D. in Zoology with a certificate and concentration in Tropical Conservation and Development at the University of Florida, then worked as a postdoctoral scholar at the National Zoo of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, addressing conservation issues in agroecosystems in Colombia. She has become involved in local capacity building and community outreach both in the USA and Latin America and has mentored dozens of students to complete independent research projects. Within the Belmont Forum, she is working on supporting the secretariat’s activities, organizing scoping workshops
and
drafting call texts for various upcoming new CRA’s on Pathways to the SDG’s and Climate, Environment and Health, and also continuing the efforts of the e-IDM team.
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Dr. Makyba Charles-Ayinde will be working closely with the Transdisciplinary Science for Oceans Research CRA as well as the upcoming CRAs - Disaster Risk, Resilience and Reduction and Climate, Environment and Health. She is also part of the core team shaping the SRI2020 marquis event and the forums’ participation at UN Environment Assembly and Science Policy Business Forum. She hopes to widen the forums’ outreach and has started in this effort by facilitating a townhall about transdisciplinary research at the AGU 2018 fall meeting and hopes to work with NSF-C and CARICOM in this same vein. She is also working with the e-I&DM Enabling Fair Data Project to determine metrics to assess the Data and Digital Outputs Management Plan. Makyba is very interested in engaging in even more projects that promote the use of transdisciplinary research and drive the vision of the forum forward.
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