DEB’s new core programs solicitation (NSF 22-541) 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.

Removal of the Bridging Ecology and Evolution (BEE) Special Category

The BEE special category is no longer part of this solicitation. Proposals that combine ecological and evolutionary approaches to better understand the functional role of biodiversity can be submitted to the new “Biodiversity on a Changing Planet” solicitation (NSF 22-508).

Data Management Plan Revisions

In addition to previous requirements, the Data Management Plan must include two sections: (1) Data Plans, and (2) Intellectual Property Plans. Data and digital products should be identified, and the following described for each of them:

• Format and standard of primary data;
• Metadata to be collected and disseminated with the primary data; Timetable of release of ALL data, consistent with privacy and other concerns regarding sensitive information;
• Public repository to be used;
• License for use, with an emphasis on open source licenses such as MIT and GPL;
• Any constraints on release, which must be clearly justified; and Person(s) responsible for the release.

All software and code must be in a versioned code repository. We strongly encourage release of ready-to-use software and code through integration with computing resources, in Virtual Machines, and/or in Containers. Published results should always include information on how to access the supporting data.

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