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 and Topic 2 – Accounting for and minimizing impacts of global change.
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.
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.
Development of research consortia, supported financially by at least three participating partner agencies established in three different countries, is a key criterion. We encourage global geographic diversity to increase the scalability and applicability of the project outcomes. 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 invited full proposals at the second step.
Deadline for pre-registrations (pre-proposals) is on 31 January 2019. Applications shall be submitted via the Belmont Forum application portal.
Details of the call and the application process are provided via the application portal and the Belmont Forum web site. There are also training modules available for proposers on the Belmont Forum YouTube channel. Before starting to prepare proposals, applicants are advised to contact their funding organisation(s) as listed in the annex documents for the call.
A total of 16 funders from 14 countries have committed in total circa 16 million EUR of cash and in-kind resources for this call: Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Japan, Norway, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sweden, and USA. Through SIDA, also researchers from Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Comoros and Madagascar are eligible for this call.