One of the objectives of the BiodivERsA consortium is to produce a comprehensive ‘map’ of the current state of research on biodiversity and associated ecosystem services in Europe in terms of projects, programmes and funding, to improve the identification of existing gaps and future needs for new research programmes, new facilities, as well as detecting potential barriers for successful cooperation.

Contributing to this end, BiodivERsA has developed a database holding information about:

  • Funding programs and associated calls for research proposals on biodiversity and associated ecosystem services in Europe; this includes thematic programs devoted to biodiversity, thematic programs including biodiversity issues, and blue sky programs where biodiversity research applications are eligible; grants, fellowships and studentships are also referenced. Focus is on competitive funds only, excluding e.g. funding by national institutes of the part of the scientific community they are in charge of, or schemes that fund local research teams only;
  • Research projects on biodiversity and associated ecosystem services funded through these programmes;
  • Research institutes and other organisations (including stakeholders) involved in the projects funded, and researchers leading the projects.
Access the Biodiversa database

The BiodivERsA database allows analyses of the funding landscape for biodiversity research, the profile of funded research and the possible complementarities of biodiversity research priorities among countries and agencies in Europe. Three booklets on the output of this analyses were published in 2014 and in 2018. More information on these brochures can be found below.

 

Besides the analyses, the database also helps scientists to identify potential resources and network opportunities to further develop their research. In addition, it will help at finding scientific expertise for specific policy questions. As such, the BiodivERsA database is a valuable tool for strategic cooperation and expertise in the large, fragmented domain of research on biodiversity and associated ecosystem services.

 

The BiodivERsA database presently includes 65 organisations that fund biodiversity research, 1232 annual calls within 543 different funding programmes (including the biodiversity-relevant programmes of the European FP6 and FP7, and BiodivERsA ERA-net calls), 11334 research projects, 2923 research organisations, and 12724 persons. Those data span the 1996-2017 time window, and currently cover 20 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, and the UK.

 

Upon registration and acceptance of the data user agreement, information in the database is available to anyone interested in biodiversity research funding in Europe.

Analyses of the funding landscape and the temporal and geographical trends for biodiversity research (2018)

In 2016, the BiodivERsA database underwent an important update which resulted in the publication, in 2018,  of a revision of the analyses of the funding landscape, based on the new data. In this updated brochure, we studied 6650 projects funded over the 2005-2015 period by 18 national funding agencies/ministries that are main competitive funding sources for research on biodiversity and ecosystem services at the national scale in Europe, or by the European Commission.

The aim was to:

  • Give an overview of the methodology used to collect data, and present the content of the database;
  • Analyse the level of funding for biodiversity research, which encompasses a multitude of funding schemes, the temporal funding trends over the 2005-2015 period, and the level of funding by the national/local agencies versus by the Framework Programmes at the European scale;
  • Test the existence of any coherent temporal trends (over 2005-2015) in the type of research funded in this domain when aggregating information from many national funding agencies across Europe; and analyse the changes in the type of biodiversity research funded, identifying the main research topics that are decreasingly and increasingly supported since 2005-2015 period;
  • Compare the type of biodiversity research funded between different national agencies that program and fund research in European countries.
Download the brochure
Download the appendix

Hardcopies of this brochure can be obtained through the BiodivERsA Secretariat (biodiversa@fondationbiodiversite.fr). Please indicate the address and number of copies you would like to receive.