Announcing the GEO Mountains Small Grants Programme 2024–2025

Details: Category: MRI News; Published: 15 April 2024

GEO Mountains has launched a new small grants call for project proposals that explicitly explore mountain monitoring, data, and information.

The Global Network on Observations and Information in Mountain Environments (GEO Mountains) is a Work Programme Initiative of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), co-led by the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) and the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISAC). GEO Mountains connects research and mountain observations networks to enhance the discoverability, accessibility, and usability of data and information pertaining to environmental and socio-economic systems in mountain regions worldwide. In this context, and thanks to the support from the Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation (SDC) via the Adaptation at Altitude Programme, we are launching a second small data grants call (2024–2025) for projects that explore mountain monitoring, data, and information, with priority given to projects focused on the following mountain regions: Andes, Central Asia, East Africa, the Caucasus, and Hindu Kush Himalaya.

As 2025 is the UN-declared International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation (IYGP2025), we encourage proposals that align with the themes of the IYGP2025 as potential contributions to that observance. We especially welcome proposals that explicitly address key observation gaps, including data and information on the human dimensions of deglaciation and the societal impacts and adaptation needs associated with the cryosphere in a changing climate.

Depending on the quality and merit of the proposed projects, we expect to support up to two projects per region, with a contribution of up to CHF 10,000 per project available on a competitive basis. Project duration can be up to one year, and all projects should conclude no later than 30 September 2025. Below is a (non-exhaustive) list of the types of projects that could be supported:

Compilation and development of databases, programmes, and/or tools to describe, access, visualise, combine, analyse, and/or apply geospatial datasets corresponding to mountain regions.
Mountain data rescue or digitisation projects, with sharing / publication of the resultant digital data for online access (e.g. via Zenodo or similar open data repository).
Curation and preparation of novel mountain datasets for publication or sharing online and/or in peer-reviewed data journals (e.g. ESSD, Scientific Data, etc.)
Mountain data evaluation or inter-comparison projects
The integration of various types of mountain data with with numerical models (data driven, physics-based, or hybrid) or scenarios to answer key scientific, practical, or policy-relevant questions
Education, training, or capacity development activities related to the data lifecycle (including campaign planning, infrastructure specifications, data collection, data transmission, quality assurance, documentation, storage, and sharing). Contributions to the MRI’s Mountain Observatories or Unified High-Elevation Observation Platform (UHOP) concepts are particularly encouraged.

Some useful resources are available via the GEO Mountains General and In Situ Data Inventories. Others include the GEO Knowledge Hub and GEOSS, as well as resources offered by other GEO Work Programme Activities. All projects should follow the principles of Open Science to the greatest extent possible. Further details on eligibility and funding conditions are provided in the Annex: General Eligibility and Funding Conditions.

Summaries and outcomes of projects funded via the previous 2023 call are provided here.

Proposals must be submitted via this online submission form. Please ensure all the requested information is provided. Incomplete submissions will not be evaluated. Deadline for proposals: 3 June 2024, midnight (23:59) CEST.

Key dates:

Call for GEO Mountains Small Grants opens: 15 April 2024
Open webinar presenting the call and providing opportunity for Q&A: 6 May 2024, 14:00 CEST
Deadline for proposals: 3 June 2024, midnight (23:59) CEST
Confirmation of successful applications: By 19 July 2024
Projects start: 1 October 2024
Project deliverables due: 30 September 2025
Projects reporting and results’ dissemination: October to December 2025.