OzEWEX calls for new project proposals

October 31, 2016 Leave a comment

The Australian Energy and Water Exchanges initiative (OzEWEX) is a not-for-profit research community volunteer organisation that seeks to promote information and data sharing and collaboration and engagement between researchers, data providers, research users, resource managers and research managers in the climate and water domains. As part of its mission to foster innovation and encourage community activities, OzEWEX has been supporting various smaller and larger projects, including:

meetings to progress scientific or research adoption challenges;
development of joint statements, position papers and submissions;
collaborative scientific synthesis activities and publications;
data collation, data base and data catalogue development and population;
collaborative analyses, intercomparisons and experiments;
the Australian Climate and Water Summer Institute; and
development of shared computing, software and data infrastructure.

To encourage the broader community to propose and lead such projects, OzEWEX is trialling a new approach through an annual, open call for research project proposals.

Community members are invited to put forward proposals for collaborative projects. Proposals that best align with the OzEWEX objectives will be selected for further development into new projects and, if the required resources can be found, will form a key focus of OzEWEX activities for the coming year.

Process

The proposal process is as follows:

1) Project leaders (PLs) develop a 1-page proposal summary formatted as an OzEWEX abstract and submitted through the OzEWEX submission system. The abstract should identify the project proponents and contain a brief description of the activity and the nature of resources sought to undertake the activity.

2) The OzEWEX panel tests the proposal against the eligibility criteria, consulting with the PLs as necessary.

3) One of the PLs will present the proposal at the OzEWEX workshop. Initial feedback will be sought from workshop participants on such aspects as importance, uniqueness, benefit and feasibility.

4) Following the workshop, the OzEWEX panel liaises with PLs with the objective to develop a proposal with sufficient detail for presentation to stakeholders and organisations that will be invited to support the project.

5) If the requested resources can be mobilised, the PLs will be invited to initiate the project. OzEWEX will provide secretarial support to organise project activities and communication.

PLs of successful projects will also be invited to the OzEWEX panel for the duration of the project.

Project criteria

The panel will assess project eligibility on:

Degree of alignment with OzEWEX objectives.
Benefit in terms of promoting and facilitating collaboration amongst Australian researchers and/or research users.
Likely community support and participation, assessed through consultation at the annual OzEWEX workshop.
Likely feasibility to mobilise the requested resources, assessed through consultation with key stakeholder organisations.
Evidence of commitment from the proponents and/or their organisations.

Proposal rules

The project should benefit the broader community. Projects that involve individuals from at least 3 different organisations are preferred. Projects primarily benefiting a single individual or organisation will not be viewed favourably.
Resources of any type may be requested. A non-exhaustive list of examples includes: funds to cover travel expenses for meetings; secretarial support; shared IT resources for web hosting, data storage or computing; purchase of data or instruments; data management or processing; or field data collection.
Projects may continue for multiple years, but measurable outcomes need to be achieved within one year and continued support will be subject to the demonstration of progress and effective use of resources.
If in-kind contributions can be identified at the expression-of-interest stage these will be considered favourably. Costing of such contributions is welcome but not required.
There is no constraint on the quantum of resources that can be sought, but the resources sought will be assessed against the community benefit they generate.
Where possible, OzEWEX will seek to find requested resources in the form of in-kind contributions from appropriate individuals or organisations, to maximise the efficient use of already available resources. Where necessary, proponents will be assisted in pursuing cash funding.
The OzEWEX panel will make a determination of the projects that should be supported for initiation or continuation annually. Current panel members are listed below.

Submission deadline

The proposal submission deadline coincides with the abstract submission deadline for the annual OzEWEX workshop.

Panel members

Current OzEWEX panel members are: