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Information for Researchers, No. 85 | October 8, 2021

BiodivERsA+: Call 2021–2022

Joint Call for Research Proposals on “Supporting the Protection of Biodiversity and Ecosystems across Land and Sea”

Joint Call for Research Proposals on “Supporting the Protection of Biodiversity and Ecosystems across Land and Sea”

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) as a partner of BiodivERsa+ is pleased to announce the launch of the 2021–2022 joint call for research proposals on the topic “Supporting the Protection of Biodiversity and Ecosystems across Land and Sea”.

This call will cover the following three non-exclusive themes:

  • knowledge for identifying priority conservation areas, establishing effective and resilient ecological networks, enhancing species-based protection and preserving genetic diversity
  • multiple benefits and costs of biodiversity and ecosystem protection: synergies and trade-offs
  • effective management and equitable governance to deliver bold conservation outcomes

Projects combining aspects from several themes are encouraged. This call is focused on the protection of biodiversity in the wild (it does not include efforts for restoration of habitats and species, or ex-situ conservation). The call covers all environments (terrestrial, freshwater and marine); it also covers research on biodiversity conservation in the Outermost Regions (OR) and Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) of the EU.

A two-step application procedure will be used in this call. Proposals have to be exclusively written in English and must be submitted electronically. Instructions regarding submission, eligibility, and evaluation criteria and other relevant information are available in the official call announcement on the BiodivERsA+ website (see below).

For the DFG, the eligibility requirements comply with the standard rules for DFG research grants and include members of universities of applied sciences (HAW). To be eligible, research consortia will have to include participating organisations from minimum three different countries participating in the call, including at least two from EU Member States or EU Associated Countries. Researchers who are eligible are cordially invited to apply jointly within the subject of this call.

A two-step process will apply, with a mandatory submission of pre-proposals at the first step and submission of full proposals at the second step. The closing date for pre-proposals is 30 November 2021, 15:00 CET (local time in Brussels) and the deadline to submit full proposals will be 14 April 2022, 15:00 CEST (local time in Brussels). Pre-proposals shall be submitted via an Electronic Proposal Submission System (EPSS) only. Applicants applying for funds from Germany: Full proposals shall be submitted via EPSS AND via elan.

The research proposals will be evaluated across the following criteria:

  • Step 1 (pre-proposal stage): fit to the scope of the call, novelty of the research and expected society/policy impact
  • Step 2 (full proposal stage): scientific excellence, quality and efficiency of the implementation and impact including expected policy and/or societal impact and approach to stakeholder engagement

For both steps, it is also expected that the international added value of the projects is clearly demonstrated. The detailed list of evaluation criteria to be used for this call is available in the call documents (see below).

45 funding organisations from 33 countries joining this call and have reserved – together with the European Commission* – a total amount of over €40 million.

List of participating countries:

Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark**, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy (incl. the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen**), Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Portugal (incl. Azores), Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, The Netherlands, Tunisia and Turkey.

*Please note that co-funding by the European Commission (and possibly other funders) is pending the signature of a Grant Agreement with the European Commission.
**Participation is pending formal approval.

Please note that each research partner in a project must comply with the eligibility criteria and rules of its funding organisation.

Save the date: An information webinar will be organised on the 12 October 2021 from 11:00 to 12:30 CEST (local time in Brussels) to answer all your questions about this call (registration link see below).

Further Information

BiodivERsA+ website (regularly updated):

Call documents:

Looking for a partner or a project to join? Use BiodivERsA+´s Partner Search Tool:

BiodivERsA+ Stakeholder Engagement Handbook (for more information on stakeholder engagement in funded projects):

BiodivERsA+ Policy Guide (for more information on policy relevance of research proposals, and for engagement of policy-stakeholders):

To participate in the information webinar on 12 October 2021, please register here:

Applicants applying for funds from German Funding Organisations (DFG, BMBF)
Please note the DFG´s data protection notice on research funding, which can be viewed and downloaded at:

If necessary, please also forward this information to those persons whose data the DFG processes because they are involved in your project.

Eligibility rules and regulations for German funding organisations (DFG and BMBF/VDI/VDE-IT):

Pre-proposals shall be submitted via the BiodivERsA EPSS system only and NOT via elan. Full proposals shall be submitted via EPSS AND via elan.

The elan system (for submission of full proposals only) can be accessed at:

Information on elan with special relevance for this call will be made available on DFG’s BiodivERsA website for the full-proposal stage. Please check this information before starting to prepare your full-proposal:

Contact

DFG Head Office

VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH
Projektträger Lebenswissenschaften
(VDI/VDE-IT manages this call on behalf of BMBF, the second German funding agency that is involved in this call.)

Call Secretariat

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