Concept Note

Welcome to the Earthwatch Concept Note.

Earthwatch's project review processes are guided by our mission to engage people worldwide in scientific field research and education to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment. The grant application process at Earthwatch begins with the completion of a Concept Note.

Concept Notes for projects starting in spring or summer 2014 will be accepted through Thursday, January 31, 2013.

Concept Notes will be reviewed based on scientific merit, appropriateness of volunteer activities, safety and logistical viability, expected project outcomes and impacts, and Earthwatch’s available support for the project. If your Concept Note raises the interest of the Earthwatch review committee, you will then be invited to submit a Proposal. Invitations for Proposal submissions will be communicated in late February. For more information see www.earthwatch.org/research.

The Concept Note is broken down in three sections:

Section 1: Project Design
Section 2: Need for Volunteer Participation
Section 3: Scientists

You must be online to complete and move through this form. A word template is available on request if you wish to work on your report offline and copy your information onto the form when it is ready to submit. Send requests to the Research team at research@earthwatch.org.

Your final Concept Note MUST be submitted to Earthwatch through this online form, however.

* Indicates Response Required

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* Scientific project title

* Research site location(s): Be as specific as possible, include the city, town, national park, state, etc.

* Research site country

* Research site region

* Research site(s) latitude

* Research site(s) longitude

Project web address (if applicable)

Section One: Project Design

* Goal

Describe the desired result that this project seeks to achieve and the problem that will be addressed as a result. How is your project innovative or distinct from other work in your field?

0/2500 characters

* Objectives

State and describe the scientific objectives that will contribute to achieving the project goal.

* Methods and Activities

Please provide an overview of the methodology you plan to use, the sample scheme, and your plans for data analysis.

* Project Outputs

What measurable outputs and outcomes could be expected from the project?

Earthwatch has identified a small number of high-level measures of success to express achievements across the diverse portfolio of projects we support, details are available here.

Section Two: Need for Volunteer Participation

In this section please provide Earthwatch with an overview of the volunteer experience. In order to be considered for support from Earthwatch your project must have a strong rationale for requiring involvement of Earthwatch participants in your research. Earthwatch participants can be adults, teens, students, teachers, or corporate employees. Participants are NOT required to have any special skills before signing up to work on a project and will be trained by you/your staff to complete all field tasks upon arrival on site.

* Briefly describe how your project will meaningfully involve non-specialist volunteers in your field research. Include the range of tasks/activities that will be conducted by participants under your supervision. Also mention why you are interested in involving volunteers in your research.

Earthwatch participants assist researchers in the field for set blocks of time in groups called teams. A typical project would require engagement of a minimum of 4 and up to 12 Earthwatch participants per team on 4 to 10 teams per fielding season. Each team typically spends 1 to 2 weeks in the field. Students are a key participant group for Earthwatch. It is advantageous for you to be open to student participants (age 15-18). Flexibility to work with large groups (20 -30 participants) on occasion is also advantageous.

* a. State minimum number of volunteers per team (to allow completion of tasks)

* b. State maximum number of volunteers per team (so that all team members are sufficiently occupied with useful tasks and so that all volunteers can be safely managed, including in vehicles, accommodations and during research tasks)

* c. Provide a range of months during which you would be able to conduct teams (ex. May-October)

* d. Provide the total number of teams you would like

* Potential team length(s) (select all that apply)

1 day

2-3 days

approximately 1 week

approximately 2 weeks

Comfortable accommodations for the proposed project must be located a reasonable travel distance from the research site(s) in order to travel back and forth daily.

* Type of Accommodations
Please indicate the accommodation type(s) available.

Section Three: Scientists

Please list all of the scientists or Principal Investigators (PIs) who will be working on this research project and attach a copy of their CV.

Lead PI

Title

* First Name

* Last Name

* Institutional affiliation/Employer

* Street Address

Address Line 2

* City

* State

Postal Code

* Country

* Work telephone

Other telephone

* Email Address

Lead PI CV

Co-PI

Title

First Name

Last Name

Institutional affiliation/Employer

Street Address

Address Line 2

City

State

Postal Code

Country

Work telephone

Other telephone

Email Address

Co-PI CV

Co-PI

Title

First Name

Last Name

Institutional affiliation/Employer

Street Address

Address Line 2

City

State

Postal Code

Country

Work telephone

Other telephone

Email Address

Co-PI CV

Co-PI

Title

First Name

Last Name

Institutional affiliation/Employer

Street Address

Address Line 2

City

State

Postal Code

Country

Work telephone

Other telephone

Email Address

Co-PI CV

* Indicates Response Required

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