OREANDA-NEWS. In 2016, the BNP Paribas Foundation is launching a new call for projects in Europe, with the aim of selecting 4-7 research projects that will increase our understanding about the climate, climate change and their consequences for our environment and human societies.

Projects will be selected through a rigorous process conducted by a scientific committee made up of people who are well known within their area of research:

  • Philippe Gillet, Vice-Chairman of Ecole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne. Mr Gillet leads the scientific committee and is a member of the BNP Paribas Foundation's executive committee.

  • Joanna Haigh, Professor of Atmospheric Physics at Imperial College London, Co-Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and Environment.

  • Jean-Pascal Van Ypersele, Professor of Climatology and Environmental Sciences at the Universit? Catholique de Louvain, where he co-directs the Master programme in Science and Management of the Environment. He was Vice-Chairman of the IPCC until 2015.

  • Thomas Stocker, Professor and Head of the Climate and Environmental Physics Department at the University of Bern.

  • Riccardo Valentini, Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of Tuscia, Italy.

  • Corinne Le Qu?r?, Professor of Climate Change Science and Policy at the University of East Anglia, Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.

The selection process will take place between 1 March and 30 November 2016, and will consist of two stages:

The selection criteria and details of how to take part in the call for projects are available at Climate Initiative

A few of the selection criteria

  • The project must be a scientific research project (fundamental and/or applied research) and its subject must be the climate, climate change, the impact of climate change on our environment, or the adaptation of ecosystems and communities around the world. It may therefore address one or more research themes including climatology, physics, geology, oceanography, marine or terrestrial biology, glaciology, hydrology, atmospheric sciences, volcanology and economic and social sciences.

  • The public-interest organisation under which the project will take place must be non-profit-making and based in a European Union country, Iceland or Norway, although it may work in collaboration with laboratories that are not located in those countries.

  • The project must have scientific merit in terms of its degree of innovation, potential for advancing further in understanding the subject concerned, and interest in the subject among the international scientific community.

  • Another selection criterion relates to publicising and developing interest in the project: quality of planned educational initiatives, potential for communicating with the general public regarding the project, and the innovative nature of initiatives planned in this area.