2020 SESYNC Pursuit Proposal Deadline

Submit Proposals for Collaborative Team-based Synthesis Research with SESYNC 

The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) announces its Spring 2020 Request for Proposals for collaborative team-based research projects that synthesize existing data, methods, theories, and tools to address a pressing socio-environmental problem. The request includes a research topic focused on NEON-enabled Socio-Environmental Synthesis. Proposals are due March 30, 2020 at 5 p.m. ET.

NEON-Enabled Socio-Environmental Synthesis Topic Details: 

Research teams should use NEON data to develop research questions and methods for results that will be applicable across multiple places and scales. In particular, research teams should use NEON data to conduct novel, actionable research that employ synthesis methodologies in new ways.  

While the majority of NEON sites are remote from human settlements, many sites experience direct or indirect human impacts, and data from these sites could be used to understand socio-environmental systems. Furthermore, data collected by the Airborne Observation Platform (AOP) are more extensive than the NEON sites themselves, include diverse and intensive land-use, and might be ideally suited for scaling up from NEON sites to regional and national scales. For example, socio-environmental synthesis questions might examine (1) the effects of climate change on species of ethnobotanical interest; (2) processes controlling the spread of vector-borne disease; or (3) the supply of ecosystem services, perhaps in response to changes in land use or natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and wildfires. An example of recent efforts at SESYNC to motivate syntheses using NEON data are available here. 

Project Eligibility: 

• Teams should include 10-12 members
• Teams should hold 3 meetings of 3-5 days each over the course of 12 months in Annapolis, MD
• Projects should have two PIs, with one PI based at a US institution 
• Graduate students cannot apply as PIs, but can participate on teams 
• The project cannot involve the collection of new empirical data 

Application Details:  

Those interested in this request for proposal are encouraged to discuss their ideas with SESYNC prior to developing their proposal and submitting their application. Contact research@sesync.org  to solicit feedback or arrange a conversation. For more information about how to apply, please see the SESYNC website. 

The Deadline for Proposal Submissions is March 30, 2020 at 5 p.m. ET 

APPLY HERE

Questions? 

Email: research@sesync.org