Research, both fundamental and applied, is now using the growing amount of data available on biodiversity to synthesize new knowledge. Global biodiversity has been declining at an alarmingly rapid rate since the beginning of the 21st century. Combining fundamental concepts, existing data and novel ideas offers great potential for discoveries and advances that will help to stop this decline in biodiversity, and contribute to achieving the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Through its Center for Biodiversity Synthesis and Analysis (CESAB), the French Foundation for Biodiversity Research opens its 2022 call for research proposals, to fund three innovative projects relating to the synthesis of ideas and concepts and/or the analysis of existing data. The main aim of these projects should be to improve scientific knowledge of biodiversity and demonstrate how we can use this knowledge to better protect it. The submitted projects can deal with any topic related to biodiversity, in the fields of natural sciences and/or human and social sciences.

The selected projects will be funded for three years, including: the recruitment of a post-doctoral fellow for 24 months, the organization of six meetings of the working group at CESAB and the promotion and publication of the results. CESAB will also provide logistical, technical and administrative support all along the project.

Members of CESAB projects share their scientific expertise, available data and modeling tools to answer a wide range of biodiversity questions at all spatial and temporal scales. Composed of a maximum of 14 experts, each selected working group must be coordinated by a recognized scientist affiliated with a French scientific research organization or university.