Develop and showcase your technical, scientific, and communication skills.
Work on a project that is bigger than yourself.
Create connections with scientists, grad students, and actors outside of academia working in your field.
Help synthesize our understanding of biodiversity and its contribution to people in your community.
Five to ten Champion Grants (of 500-1000 $) are available (starting July 1st) to QCBS graduate students and postdoctoral fellows working to contribute to the Assessment of Biodiversity and Nature’s Contribution to People in Quebec.
For any questions, please contact rapport@qcbs.ca.
What is an assessment?
A synthesis exercise used to assemble data and knowledge dispersed across a research field to make it publicly available in a form that is useful for decision making.
Why an assessment for Quebec?
Although IPBES has created several impressive assessments, its worldwide, or continent-wide scope makes it difficult for local decision makers to apply effectively.
Several more local assessments also exist, but are typically limited in scope, such as the impact of climate change on biodiversity, the status and threats to endangered species, or a detailed analysis of the living planet index.
What are the goals of the assessment?
The vision for the assessment is to synthesize data and knowledge related to biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people in Quebec, and to make it publicly accessible. By making the information more accessible, we hope to enable more people to use it, especially for decision-making. We also wish to identify data and research gaps to guide future data collection and research efforts.
Am I the right person to contribute?
As work on the assessment progresses, we will update the assessment website with information about what working groups are currently active or will become active in the near future. If you have expertise, or are motivated to contribute to one of these, you are most welcome to apply.
If you are not sure what is the best way for you to contribute, you are welcome to reach out to the QCBS to discuss.
If the working group you would like to contribute to is not currently active, we encourage you to get in contact with QCBS before applying.
Additionally, having a supervisor that can review your work will be beneficial. However, we can also help you connect with another mentor if your supervisor is not available.
Where can I find more information about the project?
You are welcome to check out the:
- contribution guidelines: https://quebio.ca/rapport/_book/en/CONTRIBUTE.en.html
- preliminary table of contents: https://quebio.ca/rapport/_book/Scoping/TDM.html
- webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyzUP54cMUk
- draft scoping document: https://quebio.ca/rapport/_book/Scoping/Scoping.html
Eligibility
All QCBS graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are invited to apply. Applicants must have the following:
- Active and full-time graduate student or postdoctoral fellow status;
- Enrolled in one of the QCBS partner universities;
- Supervised by a QCBS coresearcher.
We acknowledge the important input from the northern communities and will actively prioritize applicants that can leverage previously established relationships with First Nations and indigenous communities.
Application requirements
In a cover letter, please include the following information:
- Personal information
- Name, contact info, and name of supervisor(s)
- Area of study or expertise,
- Relevant skills: illustration, plotting, mapping, making dashboards, communication in French or English, or any other skill that may be useful for creating an interactive web book.
- Connections (optional)
- Letter from supervisor
- Involvement with indigenous leaders or communities
- Involvement with interest holders related to biodiversity
- Motivation and level of involvement
- Brief explanation of what you would like to contribute to the assessment and why you are the right person to do it.
- Time allocation: How much time are you willing to dedicate to this project? Keep in mind that you will need to spend some time attending meetings.
- Grant amount: the dollar amount that you believe to be fair compensation for your proposed contribution.
Also, required will be an up-to-date CV.
Deadline
Rolling deadline. Submit when ready.
Evaluation
Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Completeness of application.
- Value and priority level of proposed contribution.
- Potential for a successful contribution to be realized.
- Potential for leveraging connections.
Note that the final grant amount can depend on the difficulty and value of the proposed contribution.
Obligations
Award recipients must:
- Contribute, to the best of their abilities to the evaluation of biodiversity and nature’s contribution to people of Quebec.
- Ensure that any methods, code, and data are properly described and documented with metadata.
Award transfer
Half of the amount will be transferred once the grant is evaluated, approved, and accepted by the recipient(s).
The second half of the amount will be transferred once a contribution to the project has been made.
For QCBS students 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).
