Are you preparing a project proposal for the Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections (ADBC) program? Here we provide some information regarding ADBC budget justifications & decisions.
As you can see from the graph below, budget requests that have come in to the ADBC program have ranged from as small as $5,626 to as large as $3,907,600. While there is no particular dollar amount that characterizes a successful ADBC project proposal, the ADBC Program expects proposals to put forth a well-justified and well-reasoned budget request to be competitive for funding.
The ADBC program and reviewers recognize that the digitization of different types of information will have different costs. Here are some factors considered by the ADBC Program when reviewing a budget request for an ADBC proposal:
- Does the PI make a well-reasoned argument for the cost of digitization based on the specimen preservation method (e.g., herbarium sheets, insect trays, fluid preserved specimens)?
- What aspect of digitization is the PI proposing; in other words, will the project involve 2D or 3D imaging of specimens, label capture, digitization of field notes and other ancillary data, or georeferencing? This information will aid in the justification of the budget amount.
- There is also the expectation that new projects will build upon existing efficiencies or improve upon methods or workflows that have already been developed by others. For example, does the proposed project leveraged resources from existing Thematic Collection Networks (TCNs) or incorporated lessons learned from similar efforts? Have others digitized this particular organism? If so, will those existing data be leveraged for the proposed project?
If you found this information useful, stay tuned to DBInfo for more blog posts about DBI programs and helpful tips about proposal preparation.
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