Grants for Social Science Research on Solar Radiation Modification

SRM is a controversial proposal for reducing some of the impacts of climate change by reflecting a small fraction of sunlight away from the Earth.

It is the first fund aimed entirely at researchers in developing countries and emerging economies to study SRM’s social and political dimensions. It supports work across social science disciplines, including anthropology, economics, ethics, geography, law, political science,  psychology, risk science, and sociology.

Objectives

• There are several objectives of the Fund:
  • to support excellent research on the social and political dimensions of SRM;
  • to build the capacity of developing country researchers to play a greater role in the evaluation and discussion of SRM;
  • to expand the conversation around SRM with local stakeholders;
  • to build a global community and an evidence base for critically evaluating humanity’s options for dealing with committed climate risk.

Programme Details

• Research collaborator scheme
  • Projects will be connected with a pool of collaborators who are some of the world’s most experienced SRM experts and give their time as unpaid volunteers. The collaborators work cooperatively with the Socio-Political Fund researchers, helping them to understand the complexities of SRM and get access to the data they need (if applicable), and the key literature in their field of study.
  • The researchers are free to define how they work with their collaborators and there is no obligation to work with them at all. But most of their past teams in the physical sciences have reported that it is one of the best parts of their experience, with a number of the scientists continuing to work together outside their Degrees-supported projects—for instance by submitting joint funding proposals or by working on other projects.
• Research-planning workshop
  • After making decisions on the researchers that will receive grants in late February 2024, the Socio-Political Fund journey then begins with a two to three day research-planning workshop in Istanbul in the last week of May. One or two members from each supported project must attend—this is an essential part of the process. The research collaborators will also participate.
  • At the workshop, the researchers will learn more about SRM and present their initial research plans for review, discussion, and refinement. Perhaps most importantly, the workshop participants will get to know each other as they join a growing international community of SRM experts.
  • After the workshop, researchers are expected to submit a more detailed plan. At this stage, additional funding may be requested and later awarded on a competitive basis if the need is identified—for instance, where larger teams are needed to carry out the planned work.
• Community building
  • The Degrees Initiative places a great emphasis on community building. Every project will receive funding to send researchers to conferences. Additionally, the Degrees Initiative will organise monthly calls to allow Socio-Political Fund researchers to stay in touch with each other and the latest SRM news, and to present their work for discussion and feedback.

Funding Information

• Successful teams will receive USD 45,000, and individual researchers will receive USD 25,000, to develop, conduct, and publish their results. Of this, all but USD 10,000 (that is, USD 35,00 for teams and USD 15,000 for individual researchers) can be used for:
  • Salaries, including covering a share an established researcher’s time and/or hiring postdoctoral researchers;
  • Accessing or purchasing books and journal articles;
  • Direct research costs.
  • Of the grant, USD 10,000 is set aside for:
  • Payment of open-access journal publication fees (up to USD 5,000 per grant);
  • Participation in international conferences during the grant’s lifetime (up to USD 5,000 per grant).
• The Fund also supports:
  • A research-planning workshop to meet fellow grantees and world-leading SRM researchers, and to refine your plans in consultation with them all;
  • Collaboration with some of the world’s leading researchers of SRM;
  • Connection with a wider community, in both the Global South and North;
  • The opportunity to become a leading expert in SRM.

Benefits

• Grants can cover project staffing costs, access to research and data, and direct research costs.
• Each grant also includes specific support for open-access publishing fees and participation in international conferences.
• Importantly, successful applicants will join—and help grow—a diverse global research community which includes some of the world’s top SRM experts, benefitting from South-South and South-North collaboration and professional networking opportunities.
• They expect each supported project to produce at least one publication in an international academic journal.

Eligibility Criteria

• Principal investigators must have a PhD and should have appropriate research experience. They must be citizens of one of the following countries AND should work at a university or research institution in one of the listed countries:
  • Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini (Swaziland), Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine (except the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions), Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
  • Due to country-wide sanction regimes and/or operational limitations, they are unable to fund projects in Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, South Sudan, Sudan, and Syria. Nationals of these states who are based in eligible countries can still apply for grants.

For more information, visit Degrees Initiative.