2022-2022 Joint Call
Improved transnational monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem change for science and society

In September 2022, Biodiversa+ launched its BiodivMon call, seeking proposals for 3-years research projects aimed at improving transnational monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem change.

This call, co-funded by the European Commission, focused on three (non-exclusive) key themes:

  • Innovation and harmonisation of methods and tools for the collection and management of biodiversity monitoring data.
  • Addressing knowledge gaps related to biodiversity status, dynamics, and trends in order to reverse biodiversity loss.
  • Making effective use of available biodiversity monitoring data.

The call attracted a remarkable response, receiving 262 pre-proposals and 108 eligible full proposals. An independent Evaluation Committee rigorously evaluated these submissions, carefully ranking the projects. Subsequently, adhering strictly to the rankings, the Biodiversa+ Call Steering Committee, composed of all participating funding organizations, selected 33 research projects for funding. This decision represents a substantial financial commitment of over €46 million, including contributions from the European Commission.

These 33 funded projects showcase academic excellence while addressing pressing scientific and societal challenges. They foster collaboration across diverse disciplines and engage a broad spectrum of stakeholders.

33 funded projects
  • ANTENNA – Making technology work for monitoring pollinators (DE, NL, DK, ES, GR, IE)
  • BIG_PICTURE – Developing data management and analytical tools to integrate and advance professional and citizen science camera-trapping initiatives across Europe (NO, IT, ES, SE, SI, DE, NL, NO, BE, FR, IT, PL)
  • BioBoost+ – Boosting the Frequency and Scale of Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Using Digital Imagery and Artificial Intelligence (IT, NL, NO, GR, FR, ES, IL)
  • BioMonI – Biodiversity monitoring of island ecosystems (DE, AT, PT, CH, FR, ES)
  • CAMBioMed – Coordinated and adaptive monitoring of biodiversity change across Mediterranean rocky ecosystems (IT, GR, SE, ES, IT, NL, IL, HR)
  • CoForFunc – Toward a biome-scale monitoring of the Congo basin FORest FUNCtional composition (FR, DE, ES, BE, CM, CG)
  • DESTRESS – DEciphering temporal trends and safe operating spaces for river biodiversity within the context of multiple STRESSors (NO, DE, DK, SE, NL)
  • DNAquaIMG – Innovating transnational aquatic biodiversity monitoring using high-throughput DNA tools and automated image recognition (DE, DK, AT, FI, FR, PL, IE, PT, CZ, RS, SE)
  • DNASense – From gene to landscapes: development of environmental impact assessment tools for marine biodiversity monitoring using eDNA and remote sensing techniques (SE, BE, ES, FI, EE)
  • EMPHATIC – E-DNA, Microbiomes, Photogrammetry and Hormones – Assessment Techniques In Cetaceans (ES, PT, FR, IT)
  • ENABLElocal – Enabling use of biodiversity monitoring data in local conservation management (DE, CZ, SE)
  • ForBioMon – Boosting FORest BIOdiversity MONitoring in Europe through smart combination of existing data (BE, SE, CZ, DE)
  • Forest-Web-3.0 – Mobilising, harmonising and incentivising forest biodiversity and environmental monitoring data through Web 3.0 technology (NO, EE, BE)
  • FunDive – Monitoring and mapping fungal diversity for nature conservation (DK, EE, ES, BE, IT, CZ, HU, DE, PT, FR, NO, FI, PL, CH, GR, NL)
  • GINAMO – Genetic Indicators for NAture MOnitoring (DK, SE, BE, DE, NO, FR, IT, USA)
  • GRASS4FUN – Monitoring the contribution of European grasslands to the conservation of soil biodiversity and ecosystem function under multiple global change stressors (ES, DE, CH, NL, FR, PT)
  • HiRAD – Harmonising and integrating Radar-based approaches for monitoring Aerial bioDiversity (CH, NL, BE, FI, CH, FR, DE, USA)
  • IMPACT – Integrated Monitoring of PArasites in Changing EnvironmenTs (NO, DE, CH, IE, NL, ES, CZ)
  • METAPLANTCODE – Harmonizing plant metabarcoding pipelines in Europe to support monitoring activities in the field of plants and their functional organismic networks (DE, SE, NO, CH, NL, PT, FR, RO, GR, BE)
  • MiDiPeat – Monitoring of peat microbial diversity through vegetation properties and its implication for carbon dynamics across European peatlands (FI, DE, EE, CZ)
  • MonitAnt – Developing a European-level Monitoring strategy for mound- building Formica Ants and symbiont communities residing in nest mounds (DE, UK, IT, CZ, RO, FI, BE )
  • MOOBYF – Monitoring the Open-Ocean BiodiversitY with Fishers (FR, ID, MV, BE, IT, DE, )
  • MoSTFun – Monitoring Strategies and Tools to address knowledge gaps on aquatic Fungal biodiversity (CH, CA, IT, DE, SE, NO, ES, EE, USA)
  • MOTIVATE – Monitoring Of Terrestrial habitats by Integrating Vegetation Archive Time series in Europe (DE, AT, ES, IT, CZ, FI)
  • NorTrack – The Northeast Atlantic Marine Tracking Network (IE, BE, NO, FR, DK, SE, CA)
  • SEAGHOSTS – The global spatial ecology and conservation of the world’s smallest and elusive seabirds, the storm petrel (Hydrobatidae & Oceanitidae), across the Mediterranean and the North East Atlantic Ocean (ES, DK, DE, ES, PT, GR, NO, IT, IS, FR, IE, USA)
  • SEPPI – Standardized European monitoring of plant-pollinator interactions (SEPPI) (DE, BE, CZ, FI, HU, IT, RO, LV)
  • SoilRise – Raising awareness for soil biodiversity and multiplying monitoring by student-based Citizen Science (DE, AT, PL, IE, FR)
  • Sub-BioMon – Developing and testing approaches to monitor subterranean biodiversity in karst (SI, BE, IT, HU, RO, LU)
  • TABMON – Towards a Transnational Acoustic Biodiversity MOnitoring Network (NO, NL, FR, ES, NL)
  • TRANSPONDER – Transnational biodiversity and ecosystem assessment approaches for pondscapes in Europe (DK, HU, BE, CH, ES, TR, DE)
  • WildINTEL – Building a scalable WILDlife monitoring system by integrating remote camera sampling and artificial INTELligence with Essential Biodiversity Variables (PL, USA, ES, NO, DE)
  • WOBEC – Weddell Sea Observatory of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Change (DE, SE, IT, NO, NL, BE, PL, USA)
Evaluation Committee
Co-Chairs of the Committee
  • Scientific co-Chair: Nathalie Pettorelli
  • Policy-management co-Chair: Simon Gardner
Other members of the committee

Scientific experts (27)

  • Kofi Akamani
  • Peter Arcese
  • Fernando Ascensão
  • Clement Atzberger
  • Isabelle Aubin
  • Yu-Chung Chiang
  • Nicola Clerici
  • Richard Gregory (step 1 only)
  • Grant Hamilton
  • Stephanie Hampton
  • Ferenc Jordan
  • Dave Kendal
  • Hojka Kraigher
  • Anne Magurran
  • Frank Masese
  • Louise McRae
  • Lina Mtwana Nordlund
  • Zuzana Musilova
  • Piotr Nowicki
  • Nessa O’Connor
  • Michael Pocock
  • Natasha Ribeiro
  • Oguz Turkozan
  • Davnah Urbach
  • Yeqiao Wang
  • Monika Wulf
  • Alexandra Zieritz

Policy/management experts (24)

  • Mora Aronsson
  • Johnny Berglund
  • Karma Bouazza
  • Peter Bridgewater
  • Claire Brown
  • Francisco Miguel Cortés Sánchez
  • Roberto Crosti
  • Adriana Ford
  • Frederik Forsberg
  • David Gutiérrez
  • Colin Hindmarch
  • Katia Hueso-Kortekaas
  • Judy Fisher
  • Peter Koncz
  • Manuel Lago
  • Maria Cecilia Londono Murcia
  • Ivone Pereira Martins
  • Vinod Bihari Mathur
  • Angela Morgado (step 1 only)
  • Nicholas Ozor
  • Simona Polakova
  • Christian Prip
  • Sunandan Tiwari (step 1 only)
  • Wouter Vanneuville
Funding Organisations

33 funding organisations from 23 countries (including Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen) fund one or several research teams in this joint Call.

In total, 46 funding organisations from 33 countries participated to this Call.

The General contact point for the follow-up of the funded projects are Anna Kotarba and Mateusz Sobczyk: biodiversa.projects@ncn.gov.pl (NCN, Poland)

Country Funding organisation Acronym Name Email
Austria Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung FWF Iris Fortmann
Anna Dickermann
iris.fortmann@fwf.ac.at
Anna.dickermann@fwf.ac.at
Belgium Service Public Fédéral de Programmation Politique Scientifique BELSPO Aline van der Werf aline.vanderwerf@belspo.be
Belgium (Flanders) Fonds Voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek-Vlaanderen FWO Toon Monbaliu
Kristien Peeters
europe@fwo.be
Belgium (Wallonia-Brussels) Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique F.R.S.-FNRS Joël Groeneveld joel.groeneveld@frs-fnrs.be
Brazil Brazilian National Council of State Funding Agencies* CONFAP Elisa Natola elisa.confap@gmail.com
Brazil Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development* CNPq Dileine Amaral da Cunha dileine.cunha@cnpq.br
Bulgaria Bulgarian National Science Fund* BNSF Milena Aleksandrova aleksandrova@mon.bg
Czech Republic Technology Agency of the Czech Republic TA CR Matej Stepanek matej.stepanek@tacr.cz
Denmark Innovation Fund Denmark IFD Kathrine Hauge Madsen
Aila Lonka
kathrine.hauge.madsen@innofond.dk
aila.lonka@innofond.dk
Estonia Sihtasutus Eesti Teadusagentuur ETAg Margit Suuroja margit.suuroja@etag.ee
Estonia Estonian Ministry of the Environment MoC_EE Raili Allmäe raili.allmae@envir.ee
Estonia Estonian Ministry of Rural Affairs REM Epp Eisler epp.eisler@agri.ee
Finland Suomen Akatemia AKA Harri Hautala harri.hautala@aka.fi
Finland Ministry of the Environment MoE_FI Tanja Suni tanja.suni@ym.fi
France Office français de la biodiversité OFB Marie Pierrel marie.pierrel@ofb.gouv.fr
France Agence Nationale de la Recherche ANR Céline Billiere, Sophie Germann,
Clara Superbie
biodiversa.cs@agencerecherche.fr
Germany VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH on behalf of BMBF VDI/VDE-IT (on behalf of BMBF) Rainer Schliep, Anne Endmann rainer.schliep@vdivde-it.de
anne.endmann@vdivde-it.de
Germany Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft e.V. DFG Gaby Rerig gaby.rerig@dfg.de
Greece General Secretariat for Research and Innovation GSRI Anna Rosenberg, Antonios Gypakis a.rosenberg@gsrt.gr
agypa@gsrt.gr
Hungary Nemzeti Kutatási, Fejlesztési és Innovációs Hivatal NKFIH Dorottya Szemere dorottya.szemere@nkfih.gov.hu
Ireland Environmental Protection Agency of Ireland Irish EPA Caroline Wynne
Darragh O’Neill
C.Wynne@epa.ie
Da.ONeill@epa.ie
Italy Ministry of Universities and Research MUR Yasmine Iollo
Aldo Covello
yasmine.iollo@est.mur.gov.it
aldo.covello@mur.gov.it
Italy Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen PROV.BZ Laura Cherchi Laura.Cherchi@provincia.bz.it
Ivory Coast Fonds pour la Science, la Technologie et I’Innovation* FONTSI Annette Ouattara

Patrick Assamoa

annetteouattara@yahoo.fr
patrick.assamoa@fonsti.org
Latvia Latvian Council of Science LZP Maija Bundule maija.bundule@lzp.gov.lv
Lithuania Lietuvos mokslo taryba* LMT Viktoras Mongirdas viktoras.mongirdas@lmt.lt
Moldova (Republic of) National Agency for Research and Development* NARD Olga Davidenco
Vadim Iatchevici
olga.davidenco@ancd.gov.md
vadim.iatchevici@ancd.gov.md
Morocco Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research* MENFPESRS Nihale EL AZZOUZI
Abdelouahid EZZARFI
Anas CHOKAIRI
Jihane BENARAFA
elazzouzi.enssup@gmail.com
a.ezzarfi@yahoo.fr
chokairi.anas@gmail.com
jbenarafadrsi@gmail.com
Netherlands Dutch Research Council NWO Ron Winkler r.winkler@nwo.nl
Norway Research Council of Norway RCN Jonas Enge jen@rcn.no
Poland Narodowe Centrum Nauki NCN Mateusz Sobczyk
Anna Kotarba
mateusz.Sobczyk@ncn.gov.pl
anna.kotarba@ncn.gov.pl
Portugal Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia FCT Joana Pinheiro
Pedro Ferreira
joana.pinheiro@fct.pt
pedromiguel.ferreira@fct.pt
Romania Unitatea Executivă pentru Finanțarea Învățământului Superior, a Cercetării, Dezvoltării și Inovării UEFISCDI Adrian Asanica
Luciana Bratu
Andreea Popa
adrian.asanica@uefiscdi.ro
luciana.bratu@uefiscdi.ro
andreea.popa@uefiscdi.ro
Slovakia Slovak Academy of Sciences* SAS Zuzana Panisová panisova@up.upsav.sk
Slovenia Ministry of Education, Science and Sport MVZI Katja Žagar katja.zagar02@gov.si
South Africa Department of Science and Innovation* DSI Tugela Matubatuba
Karabo Mphogo
Tugela.matubatuba@dst.gov.za
Karabo.Mphogo@dst.gov.za
Spain Fundación Biodiversidad FB Sandra Blázquez Carmen Gutiérrez Javier Remiro biodiversa@fundacion-biodiversidad.es
Spain Agencia Estatal de Investigación AEI Patricia Vera Bravo
Esther Chacón
era-medioambiente@aei.gob.es
Spain CDTI* CDTI E.P.E Hector Gonzalez partenariadosHE@cdti.es
Sweden Swedish National
Space Agency
SNSA Tobias Edman tobias.edman@snsa.se
Sweden Swedish EPA SEPA Hannah Östergård
Roswall, Neda
Farahbakhshazad
Hannah.Ostergard@Naturvardsverket.se
neda.farahba@naturvardsverket.se
Switzerland Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF Claudia Ellenrieder
Madlen Korneli
claudia.ellenrieder@snf.ch
madlen.korneli@snf.ch
Taiwan National Science and Technology Council* NSTC Ching-Mei, Tang cmtom@nstc.gov.tw
Tunisia Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research* MHESR Hayet Souai
Saida Rafrafi
souaihayet@gmail.com
coopint2@gmail.com
Türkiye Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry* TAGEM Fatma SARSU
Aysun Mete
fatma.sarsu@tarimorman.gov.tr
aysun.mete@tarimorman.gov.tr
Türkiye Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu TUBITAK Yeliz TÜMBİLEN ÖZER yeliz.ozer@tubitak.gov.tr

 

*Not funding research partner

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