NSF, NEH and partner funding agencies from seven countries announce the winners of the Canada-led 2023 International Joint Initiative for Research on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation competition
Today, the U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) joined partner funding agencies from Brazil, Canada, Germany, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland and the United Kingdom in announcing the awardees for the 2023 International Joint Initiative for Research on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation competition, coordinated by Canada's New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF).
Totaling nearly $26 million, the awards will fund 11 new collaborative research projects, with NSF investing roughly $6 million, NEH half a million, and international partners over $19 million. These projects aim to leverage world-class expertise to tackle global challenges caused by climate change, recognized as the single most important threat to the planet and its inhabitants' future well-being and prosperity.
"Addressing the impacts of climate change requires a coordinated global effort," said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "Together, our organizations are able to support unique, innovative and transformational ideas that will forge a path toward a more sustainable planet for generations to come."
The 2023 competition awards represent a multilateral research funding initiative and significant investment in high-risk/high-reward research that will generate transformative impacts at local, regional and global scales. The awarded projects will fuel international, interdisciplinary research collaborations focused on addressing two or more "key risks" identified in the Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Outcomes of these collaborations will further the design and implementation of co-created adaptation and mitigation strategies for vulnerable groups, specifically, those most impacted by the effects of climate change, such as communities in low- and middle-income countries, Indigenous communities or groups that are vulnerable due to their geographic, social and economic circumstances.
From predicting flooding and droughts in at-risk regions to providing food-water-energy security for Indigenous peoples, the unique research teams supported by these awards will work to develop holistic solutions that enhance awareness, improve resiliency and empower communities around the world. The teams' research outcomes will also create educational and workforce development opportunities and advance fundamental, convergent and use-inspired science while strengthening cooperation among nations.
The 2023 teams involve researchers from at least two of the eight partner countries, with U.S. researchers supported by NSF and NEH and foreign researchers funded by their respective country's funding agency: Canada's NFRF, Brazil's Sao Paulo Research Foundation, the German Research Foundation, the Research Council of Norway, South Africa's National Research Foundation, the Swiss National Science Foundation, and U.K. Research and Innovation.
Teams will also involve collaborators from additional countries — beyond the eight funding partner countries — including Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Barbados, the Faroe Islands, Ghana, Greenland, Guyana, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mali, Namibia, the Netherlands, Peru, Sri Lanka, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago and Uganda.
The awardees are listed below:
A Collaboratively Designed and Managed Flood Resilience Framework for Affected Communities in the Caribbean Region
Grant Number: 2426270
U.S. Institution: University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Funding Partner Countries: Canada and the U.K.
Additional Researcher Country Partners: Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados
Key Risks (addressed): low-lying coastal socio-ecological systems; critical physical infrastructure, networks and services; water security
Building Resilience of Coastal Inhabitants in Vulnerable Regions of Bangladesh Through a Participatory, Gender-transformative Approach
Grant Number: 2426669
U.S. Institution: George Washington University
Funding Partner Countries: Canada
Additional Researcher Country Partners: Bangladesh
Key Risks (addressed): low-lying coastal socio-ecological systems; living standards; human health; food security; water security; peace and human mobility
Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategies (CLARS): Socio-Economic Vulnerabilities Among Urban Migrants in the Lake Victoria Basin and Great Lakes Region
Grant number: 2426552
U.S. Institution: University of Michigan
Funding Partner Countries: Canada and the U.K.
Additional Researcher Country Partners: Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania
Key Risks (addressed): critical physical infrastructure, networks and services; living standards; peace and human mobility
Climate Collaboratorium: Co-creation of Applied Theatre Decision Labs for Exploring Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation
Grant Number: 2426627
U.S. Institution: University of New Hampshire
Funding Partner Countries: Canada, Germany and the U.K.
Additional Researcher Country Partners: Brazil
Key Risks (addressed): critical physical infrastructure, networks and services; living standards; water security
Community Water Systems: Climate Vulnerabilities and Resilience Opportunities
Grant number: 2426979
U.S. Institution: University of Colorado Boulder
Funding Partner Countries: Canada and Norway
Additional Researcher Country Partners: The Netherlands
Key Risks (addressed): terrestrial and ocean ecosystems; critical physical infrastructure, networks and services; water security
Indigenous and Local Community-led Action and Solutions for Food-Water-Land Security
Grant number: 2425974
U.S. Institution: Michigan State University
Funding Partner Countries: Brazil, Canada, Germany and Switzerland
Additional Researcher Country Partners: Peru, Thailand, Mali and Italy
Key Risks (addressed): low-lying coastal socio-ecological systems; terrestrial and ocean ecosystems; food security; water security; peace and human mobility
Participatory Design for Climate Change Adaptation: Intergenerational Climate Responsive School Gardening as an Approach to Food Security and Climate Literacy in South African Communities
Grant Number: 2425843
U.S. Institution: University of Texas at Austin
Funding Partner Countries: Canada, South Africa
Additional Researcher Country Partners: N/A
Key Risks (addressed): human health; food security; water security
Reimagining Food Systems for Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation, and Social Justice
Grant Number: 2428005
U.S. Institution: University of Minnesota
Funding Partner Countries: Canada, Norway, South Africa, UK
Additional Researcher Country Partners: Australia
Key Risks (addressed): to low-lying coastal socio-ecological systems; terrestrial and ocean ecosystems; living standards; human health; food security
Retreating from Risk (RFR): Decision-supports for the Equitable Implementation of Retreat to Build Climate Resilience
Grant Number: 2428674
U.S. Institution: University of Kansas
Funding Partner Countries: Canada
Additional Researcher Country Partners: Indonesia
Key Risks (addressed): low-lying coastal socio-ecological systems; critical physical infrastructure, networks and services; living standards; human health; water security; peace and human mobility
The Indigenous Peoples Observatory Network (IPON): The Climate-Food-Health Nexus
Grant Number: 2429009, 2429010
U.S. Institution: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Funding Partner Countries: Canada, Germany, UK
Additional Researcher Country Partners: South Africa, Australia, Namibia, India, Peru, Uganda, Ghana
Key Risks (addressed): low-lying coastal socio-ecological systems; terrestrial and ocean ecosystems; critical physical infrastructure, networks and services; living standards; human health; food security; water security; peace and human mobility
WhaleAdapt: Adaptation of Vulnerable Subsistence-based North Atlantic Communities from the Tropics to the Arctic to Marine Mammal Redistribution Under Climate Change
Grant Number: 2426736, 2426737
U.S. Institutions: Florida International University, Coastal Carolina University
Funding Partner Countries: Canada
Additional Researcher Country Partners: Greenland, the Faroe Islands, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Key Risks (addressed): terrestrial and ocean ecosystems; living standards; human health; food security