Up to 20 Champion Grants (1000$) are available for QCBS graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to plan and coordinate a bioblitz event between June 1 and September 21st 2025 as part of Blitz the Gap.

Want to go camping and sample species in nature with your friends? 

What is Blitz the Gap?

Blitz the Gap (www.blitzthegap.org) is a Canada-wide bioblitz in partnership with iNaturalist.ca to help us fill gaps in our knowledge of biodiversity in Canada. Canada is a large country and hosts tons of amazing biodiversity – which makes it a challenging place to survey. Though we’ve made progress thanks to community science platforms like iNaturalist, we are still lacking data for a whole host of ecological and conservation applications.

General rules

Champion Grants can be used to plan a Local Bioblitz in Canada with a local community, a park, a school, or to support initiatives from graduate students and postdocs to organise a Field Trip sampling event for themselves and/or their lab group. 

All observations will be collected and openly shared via iNaturalist, in the Blitz the Gap project on iNaturalist.ca. These data will ultimately be included in Biodiversité Québec’s Atlas database, which is used to monitor biodiversity changes in Québec.

Each Champion Grant is 1000$. Applicants can only receive 1 Champion Grant for Blitz the Gap 2025. Champion Grants cannot be used to purchase equipment or fund fieldwork outside of the Blitz the Gap project, but we highly encourage applications from applicants that will already be in the field.

Eligibility requirements

All QCBS graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are invited to apply. Applicants must have the following via this form https://forms.gle/xDFEQ5QmFfunAYeJ8 :

  • Active and full time graduate student or postdoctoral fellow status;
  • Enrolled in one of the QCBS partner universities;
  • Supervised by a QCBS coresearcher.

We encourage applications from geopoles outside of Montreal, and encourage applicants to incorporate connections to local communities into their proposed events. 

We acknowledge the important input from the northern communities and will actively prioritize projects that include previously established relationships with First Nations and indigenous communities. 

Deadline

The deadline to submit an application for a Champion Grant is June 4, 2025. Decisions will be sent during the week of June 9, 2025.

Preparing an application

To apply for a Champion Grant, please provide the following:

  • Group: Name, institution (QCBS geopole), and iNaturalist.ca username of the group lead (champion) and of potential group members (minimum 3 people)
  • Type of bioblitz:
    • Field trip (your group self-organises a sampling event)
    • Local Bioblitz (your group organises a local bioblitz event)
  • Logistics: Location(s) and Date(s) of the field trip or local bioblitz (with coordinates)
  • Taxa: Species groups you will search for and taxonomic expertise of the group members (if any)
  • Short explanation of why it is important to fill the chosen biodiversity data gap(s) (for example, the challenges listed on https://pollocklab.github.io/blitz-the-gap/ or other gaps)
  • An estimated budget (transport, event expenses, etc.)
  • Agreement to the code of conduct (including the QCBS code of conduct, the iNaturalist terms of use).

Evaluation process

Applications will be evaluated through a competition by a graduate student committee (led by Abbie Jones) and a representative from Blitz the Gap.

Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • Application completeness (includes the items listed above);
  • Priority of the biodiversity data gap(s) to be filled;
  • Feasibility of proposed activity given the proposed budget;

Obligations of awards recipients

Award recipients will make their association with the QCBS visible on their documents and presentations;

  • Data sharing: All observations must be uploaded to iNaturalist.
  • Champion Grant holders will provide material for communication with the QCBS network:
    • Photographs and/or videos of the field trip or local bioblitz event
    • Beagle post within 1 month of the activity
  • Award recipients will allow QCBS and Blitz the Gap to post information about their contribution to Blitz the Gap, in accordance with publication regulations and policies.

Award transfer

The Champion Grants will be awarded as a lump sum of 1000$. 

  • For QCBS student and postdoctoral fellow members outside of McGill University, the award will be transferred directly to the supervisor of the lead applicant, who will reimburse the awardees. 

QCBS student members at McGill University will be awarded by direct deposit (*Different procedure for Postdoctoral fellows, contact finance@qcbs.ca for further details).