New Funding Opportunity! Navigating the New Arctic

The Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) is pleased to announce the new solicitation (NSF 20-514) for the Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) program. NNA is one of NSF’s 10 Big Ideas and represents a unique opportunity to position our nation at the cutting edge of global science and engineering leadership.

It is challenging to predict the future of the Arctic for three reasons: (1) it is changing very rapidly, (2) there are large gaps in scientific observations, and (3) natural, built, and social systems are highly interdependent. Understanding and adapting to a changing Arctic will require creative new directions for Arctic-related research, education, workforce development, and leveraging of science, engineering, and technology advances from outside the Arctic. Consequently, NNA is an initiative that seeks to address the challenges and opportunities of a changing Arctic by supporting new, diverse, integrative research communities.

Proposals must address a question on the interactions between at least two of the following:

The natural environment,
The built environment, and
Social systems.

Proposals may be submitted in one of two tracks.

Track 1 Research Grants target far-reaching, creative proposals for fundamental research that tackle convergent science challenges related to the rapidly changing Arctic. Research Grants will have a budget of no more than $3,000,000 and a maximum duration of 5 years.
Track 2 Planning Grants target proposals to support planning activities leading to research team formation and capacity-building. Planning Grants will have a budget of no more than $250,000 and a maximum duration of 24 months.

An important goal of NNA is to bring in new researchers who have not previously worked in the Arctic. Research taking place north of the Arctic Circle is not required to be eligible for NNA. Previous awards made during Fiscal Year 2019 can be found here.

For additional information and upcoming events about NNA, please visit the solicitation and program website, or reach out to the Program Directors on the NNA Working Group at nna@nsf.gov, or Kendra McLauchlan, the NNA BIO representative, at kmclauch@nsf.gov.

Full proposals are due on February 11, 2020.

Image shows three intersecting circles each labled social systems, build environment, and natural environment surrounded by the words arctic residents, forecasting, resilient infrastructure, data and observation, education, and global impact.