DEB’s new core programs solicitation (NSF 21-504) has been published. Many parts of the solicitation remain the same, but here we highlight some of the updates.   This post serves primarily as an alert to important changes to the solicitation.  As always, we encourage you to read the entire solicitation carefully.

Submission Mechanism – We’re moving to Research.gov

There will be a grace period of 90-days from the date on which the new solicitations were published during which proposals can still be submitted through FastLane. After the 90-day period, the new solicitations will no longer be available in FastLane and any new proposals must be submitted through Research.gov (or Grants.gov). The 90-day period for the DEB core programs solicitation ends at 11:59pm on January 7, 2021. More information from our Assistant Director, Dr. Joanne Tornow, can be found here and you can sign up for next week’s BIO-wide virtual office hours.

Bridging Ecology and Evolution (BEE)

The language describing the BEE category has been updated to support research that innovatively integrates the fields of Ecology and Evolution, including, but not limited to, questions in eco-evolutionary dynamics, historical community ecology, macroecology, macroevolution, biogeography, and ecosystem-level consequences of evolution. Proposals that seek to understand feedbacks between ecological and evolutionary processes, or that use concepts in one field to motivate novel questions and analyses in the other are particularly encouraged. Studies should aim to address questions that integrate across the ecological and evolutionary core programs in DEB. 

Removal of the Rules of Life Track 

The Rules of Life (RoL) track is no longer a part of this solicitation. A new separate opportunity centered on The Rules of Life (RoL) is forthcoming. Sign up for NSF Updates to be notified when it is released.

If you have any questions, please reach out to a Program Officer or contact us at debquestions@nsf.gov.