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2024-2025 Joint Call

Biodiversity and Transformative Change

#BiodivTransform

In September 2024, Biodiversa+ launched the BiodivTransform call, inviting proposals for 3-years research projects. This Call aims to support interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and/or cross-sectoral research and innovation projects that will:

  • Help understand trade-offs and cross-linkages between the worldwide crises of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution;
  • Identify, analyse, and comprehend transformation processes that may safeguard biodiversity by mitigating threats and halting—or even reversing—its decline, as well as the benefits it may provide to people.
Original call text

The call attracted a remarkable response, receiving 269 pre-proposals and 105 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 organisations, selected 35 research projects for funding. This decision represents a substantial financial commitment of over €40 millions, including contributions from the European Commission.

These 35 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.

BiodivTransform call schedule

35 funded projects

  • ACT – Advancing transformative governanCe through Transboundary conservation and collaborative learning (NO, SK, PL, ZA, RO, HU)
  • ActSustainably – Enabling Transformative Actions to Leverage Sustainability of Eurasian Grasslands (AT, CH, DK, HU, DE)
  • ATTITUDE – Assisting Transformation Through Improved practice: Targeting Urgent Sustainable Development needs by Enabling restorative aquaculture (SE, NL, DE, IT, ES, DK)
  • BIODENCITY – Reversing BIOdiversity decline in DENsification strategies: systemic solutions and CITY modelling for transformative change (SE, IT, NL, FI)
  • BiodiverCities – A Roadmap for Fostering Human Wildlife Coexistance in Greening Cities (SE, ZA, DE, BE)
  • BIOGAIN – Enabling biodiversity-positive transformation of energy planning towards climate neutrality (AT, DE, PL, DK, NL)
  • BIOREFOREST – Reforestation of forests and orchards after disturbances – A transformative action plan balancing socioeconomic and biodiversity needs (DE, IT, CH, SE, AT, FR, ES)
  • BRET – Evidence-Based Strategies for a Biodiversity-positive Renewable Energy Transition (SE, ES, NL, MD, SI)
  • CoexHuB – Leveraging transformative capacities for the governance of human-bear-coexistence in Europe. An integrated socialecological-institutional approach (IT, CH, SI, DE, ES)
  • EcologicalPilgrimage – Engaging with biodiversity through walking interventions (FI, SE, NO, IS)
  • FLOODTRAIN – From Knowledge to Action: Empowerment and Training of Floodplain Restoration Managers (AT, DE, NL, DK)
  • ICE BRIDGE – Bridging Ice Climate Technologies and Governance for Biodiversity in the Arctic (IS, NO, FI, ES, DE)
  • InvaSyn – Invasion Syndromes: transforming the understanding and management of biological invasions (ES, ZA, IL, CZ, DE, TW, BR, SE, BE)
  • JustBioSolar – Green Energy Transitions in Europe: Impacts on Biodiversity, Landscapes and Justice (DE, ES, CZ, NL, CH, SE, IT)
  • LEVER – Enhancing PLurivErsality for a Human Rights-Based Approach: GoVERning the Climate-Biodiversity-Pollution Nexus (SE, BR, ES, IT, BE, CH)
  • MARE WIND – Biodiversity and Offshore Wind: Understanding Transformative Impacts on Marine Ecosystems (BE, NO, DE)
  • MPA4Fish – Socio-ecological planning of no-fishing MPA to benefit fisheries: MPA4Fish (NO, ZA, TR, IT, FR, BR, ES, IS, TN, SE)
  • MultiDiv – Diversity in process: Towards multispecies assemblages for biodiversity governance (SE, FR, NL, DE, TN)
  • OpTIBES – Optimisation of Tree Species Selection for Improved Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (SE, NO, DK)
  • PaCE – Peace and Conservation of Ecology at the Disputed Seas (DE, NL, TW)
  • PathChange – Pathways of constructive conflict transformation to reach transformative change in wetland restoration (DE, BE, RO, ES)
  • PEACE – Participatory Engagement for Adaptation and Conservation Efforts (DE, SE, CH, AT, ZA, NL)
  • POWERSHIFT – Understanding and Shifting Power in Biodiversity Conservation by Integrating Insights from Social Change Movements (FR, DE, AT, SE)
  • ProEcoRice – A transformative production system for making rice paddies biodiverse and climate neutral (CH, BE, IT, TW,)
  • RECON – Fostering Systemic Societal Transformation for Biodiversity Conservation through Nature Re-Connection (PL, AT, DE)
  • REDESIGN – Restoration and Depopulation Synergies for Nature (PL, BE, DK, ES, SK, RO, CZ)
  • SEAWATCH – Transforming fishing vessels into stewards to protect biodiversity through the integration of eDNA metabarcoding, satellite data and AI (IT, BR, SE)
  • SKETCH – Social-ecological Keystone Places for Transformative Change in Safeguarding Coastal Biodiversity (DE, BR, FR, TW, NO)
  • SURPRISES – Building anticipatory governance of social-ecological tipping points in transformative change planning for ocean sustainability (FR, SE, DE, ES, ZA)
  • TIDELINES – Transformative change and Innovations for Diverse beach Ecosystems and sustainable Livelihoods through Enhanced wrack maNagEment Strategies (NL, ZA, DE, DK, ES, IT, BR)
  • TRANS4BIO – Integrated Energy Transition Across Scales for Climate-Resilient, Nature-Positive Biodiversity Pathways (SE, DE, EE, ZA)
  • UrbanOcean – Urbanization of the sea: assessing and managing the impact of Offshore Wind developments on open ocean biodiversity (SE, NO, DK, BE, DE, IT)
  • Urbloom – Transform urban flowerbeds for future: sustainable use and pollinator conservation (FR, DE, ES, CH)
  • WildHarvest – Understanding and recognising wild products harvesting by Indigenous and Local communities to promote environmental justice and halt biodiversity erosion (FR, ZA, SE)
  • WORMSOUT PLUS – Bearded fireWORM invaSiOn: UnderwaTer monitoring, biodiversity and social impacts, PotentiaL indUstrial application and mitigation Strategies (IT, SI, TN, FR, TR, RO, ES)
Evaluation Committee
Co-Chairs of the Committee
  • Scientific co-Chair: Mariel Aguilar Stoen
  • Policy-management co-Chair: Claire Brown / Judith Fisher
Other members of the committee
Scientific panel
  • Ronit Amit
  • Kęstutis Arbačiauskas
  • Anni Arponen
  • James Bullock *
  • Regina Birner **
  • Yu-Chung Chiang
  • Gabor Foldvari
  • Jonas Geldmann
  • Susan Janse van Rensburg
  • Jan Komárek
  • Judith Krauss
  • Marc Leandri
  • Carolyn Lundquist
  • Julia Martin-Ortega *
  • Frank Matose
  • Ingrid Nesheim *
  • Alice Newton *
  • Iago Otero
  • Jerneja Penca
  • Zbyněk Polesný
  • Tavis Potts
  • Osamu Saito
  • Simo Sarkki
  • Marie Stenseke
  • Stephen Swearer **
  • Csaba Vad
  • Mariana Walter
  • Allan Watt
Policy-management panel
  • Cengiz Akandil
  • Karma Bouazza
  • Jeff Camkin *
  • Marlon Cárdenas Madrid
  • Peter Cochrane
  • Andrew Farmer
  • Adriana Ford
  • Keisha Garcia
  • Simon Gardner
  • Carlos Mario Gomez
  • Juan Carlos Gonzalez
  • Gail Hall
  • Bob Harris
  • Katia Hueso-Kortekaas
  • Eduard Interwies
  • Neeraj Khera
  • Maitreyi Koduganti *
  • Manuel Lago
  • Francesca Leucci
  • Juana Marino de Posada
  • Ivone Pereira Martins
  • Isabel Mesquita
  • Christian Prip
  • Cecilia Simões
  • Sunandan Tiwari

* Only step 1
** Only step 2

Funding organisations

In total, 37 funding organisations from 32 countries participated to this Call.

The General contact point for the follow-up of the funded projects are Matěj Štěpánek (matej.stepanek@tacr.cz) and Ondřej Kusbach (ondrej.kusbach@tacr.cz), from TA CR (Czech Republic).

Country Funding organisation Acronym Name Email
Austria Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung FWF Anna Dickermann Anna.dickermann@fwf.ac.at
Belgium (Wallonia-Brussels) Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique FNRS Joël Groeneveld international@frs-fnrs.be
Belgium (Flanders) Fonds Voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek-Vlaanderen FWO Toon Monbaliu europe@fwo.be
Brazil Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development CNPq Dileine Amaral da Cunha dileine.cunha@cnpq.br
Brazil Brazilian National Council of State Funding Agencies CONFAP Elisa Natola internacional.confap@gmail.com
Czech Republic Technology Agency of the Czech Republic TA CR Ondřej Kusbach ondrej.kusbach@tacr.cz
Denmark Innovation Fund Denmark IFD Aila Lonka
Thorbjørn Moth Gilberg		 aila.lonka@innofond.dk
thorbjoern.moth.gilberg@innofond.dk
Estonia Sihtasutus Eesti Teadusagentuur ETAG Margit Suuroja margit.suuroja@etag.ee
Finland Research Coucil of Finland RCF Harri Hautala harri.hautala@aka.fi
France Agence Nationale de la Recherche ANR Amélie Kuroda Biodiversa.cs@agencerecherche.fr
Germany German Research Foundation DFG Gaby Rerig
Tanja Zdebel		 gaby.rerig@dfg.de
tanja.zdebel@dfg.de
Germany Projektträger Jülich (Juelich) + Technik GmbH (on behalf of BMBF) PtJ (on behalf of BMBF) Christan Strauß
Reiner Enders		 c.strauss@ptj.de
r.enders@ptj.de
Hungary Nemzeti Kutatási, Fejlesztési és Innovációs Hivatal NKFIH Dora Fekete
Orsolya Toth		 dora.fekete@nkfih.gov.hu
orsolya.toth2@nkfih.gov.hu
Iceland Icelandic Centre for Research Rannis Aegir Thorsson aegir@rannis.is
Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection MoEP Orna Matzner research@sviva.gov.il
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 BOZEN Elisa Sixt elisa.sixt@provincia.bz.it
Moldova National Agency for Research and Development NARD Natalia Bolocan
Vladislam Branitchi		 natalia.bolocan@ancd.md
vladislav.branitchi@ancd.gov.md
Netherlands (the) Dutch Research Council NWO Floor Hugenholtz biodiversa@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
Romania The Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding 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
Silvia Kecerová		 panisova@up.upsav.sk
kecerova@up.upsav.sk
Slovenia Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation MVZI Katja Žagar katja.zagar02@gov.si
South Africa Department of Science and Innovation DSI Tugela Matubatuba
Anita Mnisi
Karabo Mphogo		 Tugela.Matubatuba@dst.gov.za
Anita.Mnisi@dst.gov.za
Karabo.Mphogo@dst.gov.za
Spain Agencia Estatal de Investigación AEI Patricia Vera Bravo era-medioambiente@aei.gob.es
Spain Fundación Biodiversidad FB Raquel Sancho Rovira biodiversa@fundacion-biodiversidad.es
Sweden The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning Formas Anna Kaijser anna.kaijser@formas.se
Switzerland Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF Claudia Ellenrieder biodiversa@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 Türkiye Bilimsel Ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu TÜBITAK Yeliz Tümbilen Özer
Ceren Uzun		 yeliz.ozer@tubitak.gov.tr
ceren.uzun@tubitak.gov.tr
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