Opportunities for researchers: March 2021

Below is a selection of opportunities for researchers working on sustainable agriculture issues, including grants, workshops, journal calls, etc.

Through the Thrive Network for Sustainable Agriculture Researchers, we are sharing opportunities – our own and collated – via email and social media. Please join to find out about upcoming grants, events and resources, and share your own information:

>> ThriveNet Facebook: facebook.com/groups/thrivenet

>> ThriveNet LinkedIn: linkedin.com/groups/10364007

Announcement: Before we provide the details of upcoming researcher opportunities, we would like to take this opportunity to regretfully announce the departure of our Program Director, Izabella Koziell, later this month. Izabella will be taking up the position of Deputy Director General at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). We thank Izabella for her hard work and dedication over the past four years and wish her well in her new role. Moving forward, Stefan Uhlenbrook will take over as Program Director, with Claudia Ringler as Deputy Program Director.

​Opportunities: curated for ThriveNet Researchers, March 2021

(WLE/Thrive is not responsible for management of these unless specified)

CONFERENCES, WEBINARS & LEARNING​

• The State of Food and Agriculture 2020. FAO report on overcoming water challenges in agriculture.

• United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021. Stay up-to-date on progress and get involved in the Action Tracks, Champions Network, Scientific Group, Advisory Committee and Summit Dialogues. Sign up here. 

• Let's Talk About Water Global Forum. 22 March 2021, 10:30–11:30 PM (+0530). A free online conversation moderated by Jay Famiglietti in celebration of World Water Day. Register here.

• OECD 2021 Water Days 22–26 March 2021, France, online. Starting on the occasion of World Water Day 2021, under the theme of valuing water, OECD Water Days will comprise a series of virtual events.

• Celebration of World Water Day 2021. Webinar, 22 March 2021, 01:00 PM, Amsterdam. Recognizing, measuring and expressing water’s multiple values are fundamental to achieving sustainable and equitable water resources management. Register here. 

• Local Water Solutions for Global Challenges. Free online program starting 22 March 2021. A comprehensive overview of global water challenges and the means to identify local solutions. Register here.

• FFA2021 Annual Conference – Food System Renewal. 23 March 2021, 09:00–17:00, online. Live broadcasts, moderated panel discussions and dialogues, interactive interventions, networking opportunities and exhibitions, focusing on the food and environmental security agenda. Register here.

• Second edition of the World Food Prize Foundation. 25 March, 8:00 AM CDT. Building Forward Better: WFP Laureates Mobilizing for Food Systems Action. Register here.

• The Virtual SDG Global Festival of Action. 25–26 March 2021, online. SDG Action Awards Ceremony, 25 March 2021. Provoking debate and driving action around four cross-cutting themes, highlighting ideas, approaches and solutions for climate action, poverty and inequality, gender equality, and inclusive systems and finance. Register here. 

• UN Food Systems Summit Civil Society Public Forum. 26 March 2021, 18:00–20:00 PM (+0530), online. A continuation of the civil society webinar series in 2020 and the Action Track public forums. Register here.

• 200 Years of American Cranberry Domestication and Status of Fruit Rot Research. 29 March 2021, 10:00–12:00 IST. Registration is mandatory for certificate collection. YouTube Live Link here. Registration.

• Beyond cash poverty, capturing human wellbeing in landscape approaches. Webinar, 31 March 2021, 2:00–3:00 PM CST. Second webinar in the 'Flipping the coin: Managing Agrolandscapes to tackle multiple global challenges through a landscape approach' series. Register here.

• ​AgroMach MENA 2021. 7–8 April 2021, India, online. Agriculture Machinery, Irrigation and Technology Show.

• Three Green Transitions: How Systems Are Changing for People and Planet. 8 April 2021, 11:00 AM ET. Helping countries prepare for and invest in low-carbon, resilient development requires key transitions – in energy, transport, cities, and food systems. 

• UNFSS Independent Dialogue in Southern Africa. 15 April 2021, Uzbekistan, online. Managing the water and energy we eat: advancing water‐energy-food (WEF) nexus approaches to achieve food systems transformation in Southern Africa. Register here (by invitation only).

• UNFSS Independent Dialogue in Central Asia. 15 April 2021, Uzbekistan, online. Advancing Water-Energy-Food Nexus for achieving food systems transformation under climate uncertainties. Registration link will be shared soon (by invitation only).

• Pledge now to transform agricultural innovation. 15 April 2021, 14:00–15:00 (UTC +1) Amsterdam, online. This Independent Food Systems Summit Dialogue (FSSD) will enrich the canvas of perspectives on how food systems can be transformed for a climate-smart future.

• 6^th online course of Water Harvesting Lab. Online professional training course on water harvesting, covering specific skills for its use in soil and water conservation, including elements of project management. Enrolment deadline: 16 April 2021.

• UNFSS Independent Dialogue in Pakistan. 21 April 2021, Pakistan, online. Role of Water-Energy-Food Nexus for achieving food security in a changing climate for Pakistan. Registration link will be shared soon (by invitation only).

• 2^nd International Agrobiodiversity Congress. October 2021, Rome, Italy. Experts, practitioners, and policymakers will showcase scientific findings and innovative nature-based solutions, policies, and practices using agrobiodiversity that can make our food systems more sustainable. Call for Abstracts: Submission deadline 18 April 2021.

• Global Symposium on Biodiversity. 19–22 April 2021, 13:00–16:00 CET, online. Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity. Register here.

• The EIIS certificate Program "Food & Sustainability". 3-month, solutions-oriented course. Opportunity to learn by having fun, actively helping countries improve their food systems sustainability. Course commencement: 28 April 2021.

• UKM Engineering Webinar Series 2021 3–5 May 2021. Environmental Management of Wastewater Treatment – The Science, Technology and Design. Register by 30 April 2021.

• Singapore International Water Week 2021. 22 June–2 July 2021, all day, online. Emphasis on innovation, solutions and technologies that are relevant to the wider Asian region, and focus on key thematic areas including climate resilience, resource circularity and digital water. 

• 14th Annual International Symposium on Agricultural Research. 12–15 July 2021, Athens, Greece. Part of the Annual Academic Meetings of the Natural & Formal Sciences Division, sponsored by the Athens Journal of Sciences.

• Pre-Summit gathering for the United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021. 19–21 July, Rome, Italy. Convening youth, smallholders, indigenous peoples, researchers, the private sector, policy leaders, ministers, and many others.

• 8th International Conference on Agriculture 2021 (AGRICO 2021).19–20 August 2021, online. Conference will reflect the direction of Agriculture while offering a wide range of diversions to participants of all backgrounds. Call for Papers, Theme: “Future of Agriculture and Organic Agriculture Towards Green Economy".

GRANTS & SUPPORT

• Solar Irrigation for Agricultural Resilience (SoLAR) Innovation Fund (IF) Grants: Round 2. Request for Proposals (RFP). The expected value of funding for each innovation: CHF 40,000 to CHF 50,000. Expected project duration: 12 to 24 months from project commencement.

• Conservation, Food and Health Foundation. Protect natural resources, improve the production and distribution of food, and promote public health in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Preference given to under-funded issues and geographic areas.

• International Fund for Agricultural Development — Rural Youth Innovation Award in Latin America and the Caribbean. Registration deadline: 4 April 2021.

• Southern Africa Agricultural Trade & Investment Activity. Partners are selected through an open and competitive process. 

• Investors Hub — Global Investors Hub Challenge 2021. A catalyst firm assisting the next generation of exceptional start-ups and established entrepreneurs who are designing and executing innovative business models to profitably serve the aspiring mass market.

• World Academy of Sciences — TWAS-CSIR Postdoctoral Fellowships in India. Pursue research toward a PhD in emerging areas of science and technology; facilities are available in the laboratories and institutes of the CSIR. For scholars from developing countries.

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

• In case you missed Flipping the Coin's first webinar on "What are landscape approaches and where are they being implemented", it is available to watch here.
• New CGIAR GENDER Platform resource hub is ready. A continuously growing collection of tools, methods, insights and more on how to put gender equality at the heart of food systems.

• World Food Prize Nomination. The World Food Prize Foundation is on the search for its 2022 Laureate. Submission deadline: 1 May 2021.

• Submit Environmental Research Letters – Focus on Archetypes of Sustainable Land Use and Governance. Importance of land use systems for fostering necessary sustainability transformations at local to global scales. 

• CGIAR Researchers, share your views on landscape approaches. Take this 20 minute survey by 31 March and have the chance to win open access publication fees covered for one article. Preferred browsers: Chrome or Firefox (do not use Internet Explorer).

• G+ tools are crucial as CGIAR breeding transitions towards a more demand-driven, socially inclusive approach. Discover how these tools inform gender-responsive breeding to develop the right product for the right customer. 

• Gender bias and inequalities not only hold back women, but entire societies. Learn more about how CGIAR innovations have made a difference for gender equality over the decades.

• The United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021 Dialogues are convened by national governments and individuals from across all of society, and are key to sparking new ideas.

PROMOTE YOUR RESEARCH: THRIVE/WLE

Blogs / OpEds: We can help you turn good ideas into Thrive Blogs and Op-Eds, or even infographics, connecting your work to interested and invested readers. Below are recent links – please read and share!

Recent Thrive Blog/Op-Ed highlights: 

• Our World Water Day blog: Water storage gaps are growing worldwide. We need an integrated approach.
• Challenging our understanding of women and natural resources – our featured blog for International Women’s Day
• All is not lost for degraded uplands, as researchers show in Rejuvenation in Bundelkhand: how an upland got its groundwater back
• An Al Jazeera Op-Ed by WLE’s Director on How to defuse the human waste time bomb in low-income countries

More:

• Solar or diesel? Unlocking groundwater's potential in sub-Saharan Africa

• Shared waters and data exchange – the gap between principle and practice
• World Wetlands Day 2021: the unknown potential of wetlands in nature-based solutions
• Who will empty India's 100 million new toilets?
• Is it crunch time for the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus? 3 recommendations to move the needle
• From ruptures to fault lines: tracing the global impact of COVID-19 on migrants and rural development
• Rice-fish systems – back to the future

See also:

• Thrive blogs – WLE science, findings and recommendations explained through Op-Eds and blogs.
• News – Stories of Change, newsletters, research highlights, partner news, program news and campaigns.
• Publications – be on top of the latest research findings that WLE is involved in.

Can we help promote your opportunity? 

Please send ideas and opportunities for consideration to wle@cgiar.org or post in our Facebook or LinkedIn groups. Please note that unless specified, WLE/IWMI/CGIAR is not involved in running the above opportunities and does not have decision making responsibility.