OPPORTUNITY: Early Career Researcher Proposal Announcement REMINDER

2025 Early Career Researcher Grant Program

Background

In 2023, the ISDR initiated a trial grant program for Early Career Researchers (ECR) who are members of our society, with a total of £10,000 available for awards. The aim of this program is to support ECRs by providing research funding to individuals and supporting scientific networks. ECRs are defined as 1) currently registered in a MSc or PhD program or 2) postgraduates within 8 years of the award of MSc or PhD or (extensions to the 8- year timeframe are permitted for periods of leave, including maternity, parental, and sick leave).

Two grant programs are open for submission until 1 October 2025 - the 1) Luc Ector Grant and the 2) Networking Grant.

Key Dates

8 July                      Informational webinar on diatoms.org for North, South American time zones
21 July                    Informational webinar on diatoms.org for Asian, South Pacific time zones
7 Aug                      Informational meeting at IDS, South Africa, online African, EU time zones
1  Oct                      Proposal submission deadline
3  Oct                     Proposals distributed to review panel
12 Nov                   Review panel meets to determine awards
15 Nov                   Announcement of awards
30 Nov                   Funds distributed to awardees

Funds and project duration

Funds will be awarded from ISDR directly to the awardee in November 2025. Projects may begin at the ECRs time of choosing, but funds must be spent within 2 years and funds may not be applied retroactively. That is, applications for funds that have been already spent will be rejected. The budget may cover consumables, non-consumables, and travel expenses required exclusively for the project.

Reporting requirements

Successful grant awardees must agree to 1) provide a short project description for the ISDR website when the grant is awarded, 2) submit a project summary report within two years of the award, 3) participate in sharing project experiences with Young ISDR members through the ISDR website, ISDR meetings, or other conferences.

1. Luc Ector Grant (3 awards of £2,000 each)

The grant is named in honor of Luc Ector, a prominent and prolific diatomist known for his generosity and mentorship of young diatomists. The aim of the grant is to enable students to incorporate a new aspect into their research program (for example, travel to a conference, short research visits in a scientific institute, purchase of equipment, support publication costs, or another unfunded aspect of their work). Applicants submit a short proposal describing the proposed research, how the work will benefit the applicant’s career and the ISDR, motivation and objectives, methodology, outcomes, and budget. Grants are awarded to an individual.

Eligibility criteria

• Applicants must be registered in a MSc or PhD program.
• Applicants have not been a previous recipient of a Luc Ector Grant.

2. Networking Grant (1 award of £4,000)

This grant is intended to support a group of at least three ECRs. Note that the Networking Grant may include both currently enrolled graduate students and post-graduates, forming a team collaborating toward a common goal. The aim of the grant is to enable the team to address a research question, develop a community of practice, contribute data, code, images, or other resources to a project, bring training to diverse international communities, or other innovative ideas that address a need.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants must qualify as ECRs.

Instructions to Authors

• A successful proposal must use the template in the program announcement (below), including these elements: 1) study objective and relevant background, 2) methods, 3) project timeline, 4) itemized budget, 5) outcome and products, 6) references. Proposals may not exceed 2000 words.

• Follow the instructions of the proposal announcement! If you have questions, contact Sarah.

• The proposals need to have a clear study objective. What problem are you trying to solve? Why is that problem important to address now?

• In the methods section, indicate how the data and code will be made public in repositories (following FAIR principles). If material and slides are involved, indicate a plan for archiving in curated collections. If appropriate, indicate how images will be included in voucher floras or other archives.

• Provide a timeline for completion of the proposed work. One way to communicate a project timeline is through use of a simple Gantt chart. Keep it simple! There is no advantage to making it complicated.

• Include a budget that clearly shows how you plan to spend ISDR funds. The budget may have a single expense (travel), or it could have laboratory supplies, equipment, analysis expenses, or other items. The budget may be included within a table in your document (rather than as an Excel file).

• For the section on outcome and products, document the data elements, reports, publications, seminars, or other expected results of the study.

• References should follow a consistent format (not specified). Be sure to confirm that citations in the text have full references.

• The proposals will be evaluated by individuals with diatom expertise so detailed descriptions of standard techniques are not needed. However, any new approaches should be described in sufficient detail for their value to be assessed.

• Write clearly and concisely throughout the proposal. We strongly recommend that your advisor or supervisor reads the application and provides feedback.

Applications are due 1 October 2025