Call for IPBES Young Fellows Programme

IPBES (Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) has launched a call for nominations of young scholars for its young fellows pilot programme.

This programme targets young scholars who wish to gain experience by participating in the development of the regional and sub-regional assessments (Africa, Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe and Central Asia) or the thematic assessment on land degradation and restoration.

Selected fellows will take part as contributing authors to the chapter of the assessment they are selected for. Fellows will attend two author meetings and receive training to gain an in-depth understanding of the IPBES assessment processes. Fellows from developing countries and countries with economies in transition will receive support to attend these two meetings, in accordance with UN rules.

The IPBES young fellows pilot programme can offer fellowships for the following assessments:

1) A set of regional and sub-regional assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services (Decision IPBES/3/1 Annex III), implementing work programme deliverable 2b, including for:

• A regional and subregional assessment for the Americas region (Decision IPBES/3/1 Annex V), involving up to six fellows, with a first authors meeting scheduled for 20 -24 July 2015;
• A regional and subregional assessment for the Africa region (Decision IPBES/3/1 Annex IV), involving up to six fellows, with a first authors meeting scheduled 3 -7 August 2015;
• A regional and subregional assessment for the Asia and Pacific region (Decision IPBES/3/1 Annex VI), involving up to six fellows, with a first authors meeting scheduled 17 -21 August 2015;
• A regional and subregional assessment for Europe and Central Asia (Decision IPBES/3/1 Annex VII), involving up to six fellows, with a first authors meeting scheduled 31 August – 4 September 2015.

2) A thematic assessment of land degradation and restoration, implementing work programme deliverable 3bi (Decision IPBES/3/1 Annex VIII), involving up to eight fellows, with a first authors meeting scheduled 6 -10 July 2015 (tentative).

Contributing authors to the assessments are, in accordance with the IPBES procedures, selected by the coordinating lead authors and lead authors to assist with the work (IPBES/2/17). The coordinating lead authors will therefore also be responsible for selecting fellows for the IPBES young fellows pilot programme in consultation with the co-chairs and the management team of the assessment in question. Fellows can be selected from within the pool of nominated fellows as well as from the pool of experts already nominated for contributions to the assessments in question.

For an effective implementation of all of these deliverables, it is critical to include a broad variety of fellows from various natural and social scientific disciplines and from different knowledge systems, including indigenous and local knowledge systems, as well as policy and technical experts and practitioners. Organisations and institutions nominating experts are therefore encouraged to promote this multidisciplinary approach, which is fundamental to the success of IPBES.

Nominations from a broad range of organization/institutions are encouraged. Self-nominations will not be accepted. Nominators are expected to give their consent to the time commitment required from the candidate.

Nomination procedure

The nomination process will follow these steps:

Nominees will be invited to fill out an application form and attach their curricula vitae through the dedicated web portal (http://www.ipbes.net/fellowshipform.html)

The application form will automatically be sent to the candidate’s organisation/institution (the nominator) indicated by the nominee with an email providing a link to a nomination and consent form. The nomination and consent form invites the nominators to approve and submit their nominations as well as approve the time commitment required from the candidate.

The nominator and nominee will receive an acknowledgement message once the nomination and consent form confirming the nomination is submitted.

Interested candidates (nominees) are requested to fill out their application form no later than 31 May 2015. Nominators (organisations/institutions) should submit nominations by 5 June 2015 at the latest. Earlier nominations are strongly encouraged.

All candidates (nominees) should ensure that they:

• Are available on the indicated dates to participate in the relevant meetings
• Have discussed the nomination and nomination procedure with their organisation/institution before applying
• Additional guidance for nominated and selected fellows is available here.