Submit a Project Proposal

A Q&A was presented on Zoom on February 13, 11:00am – 12:00pm.  You can view the Q&A Slidedeck here and preview the NOI submission questions here. The FAQ have been updated to reflect questions received during the session.  If you still have questions before the deadline, please feel free to reach out to us at climate.collective@ubc.ca. 

We anticipate a wide range of projects, each with unique approaches to addressing climate solutions research.  Project requirements and project priorities are listed above; below are some additional clarifications. 

Initiate new, or strengthen existing, climate-oriented research collaborations across two or more disciplines.  

• NOI should clearly articulate how research collaborations between the Lead Applicant and Co-Applicant(s) will be developed or strengthened through the implementation of the project.  
• Projects where both applicants are from the same discipline are not eligible. 
• Examples of collaborations: 
  • Established research collaborators are looking to expand their research in new directions by connecting with a new collaborator(s) in a different discipline.  
  • Researchers from different disciplines who have not previously collaborated have developed a research concept that would benefit from this program to ‘seed’ new research directions. 
• Understanding that beneficial projects and the development of research collaboration capacity may be implemented at different scales, the size of the project team (the number of co-applicants) is not considered in the ranking of projects.  

Provide opportunities for meaningful contributions by the Solutions Scholars (i.e. graduate students who apply through a competitive process once projects are selected).  

• The NOI must clearly describe the role that Solutions Scholars will have if the project is selected.  The Solutions Scholars are central to the successful implementation of the projects; there must be a clear pathway for their meaningful participation. 

Have a clear plan for project mentorship from September 2025 through June 2026 by the application team. 

• The Climate Solutions Research Collective will provide administrative support for the Solutions Scholars cohort, while research mentorship and direction is provided by the Project Mentors.  
• Solutions Scholars will begin in September 2025 and Project Mentors should be prepared to support the research activities through to the end of the program in June 2026. 

Deliver a product by June 2026.

• The program has a tight timeline; the proposed deliverable must be feasible within the ten month timeframe. 
• The format of the final deliverable is extremely flexible, and should reflect the objectives of the proposed work.  Please see the examples of project ideas above for additional guidance. 

Should a project clearly meet the above criteria, project priorities have been identified to support the ranking of projects for selection.  Those that include first-time or early collaborators, engage with Indigenous scholarship, include engagement across the UBCO and UBCV campuses; and/or focus beyond the local region

We understand the effort that goes into preparing such an application and have restricted questions to the criteria that will help reviewers compare between projects.  Projects selected to move onto the pitch process will be able to further define their responses.  To help you prepare your submission, please download the question list. 

The project submission process is only open to faculty, research associates and postdoctoral researchers. We are excited to have graduate students apply to become 2025-26 Solutions Scholars and participate in the process. However, to avoid conflicts of interest during the scholar application process, students are not eligible to also submit NOIs. Solutions Scholars applications will open after the end of the term.  Sign up for our list-serv to be sure to receive the announcement.  ​​​​​​

No. Once the projects have been selected, we will open applications for the Solutions Scholars program.  The students selected for the program will then work on the projects in interdisciplinary teams. 

The Solutions Scholar application is a competitive process.  Successful Solutions Scholars will receive a research stipend as Graduate Research Assistants. Successful project mentors will have an opportunity to review applicants pre-screened by the Collective.  This is in consideration of the Collective’s mandate to create cross disciplinary teams.  It is possible that your graduate student will be successful in the Solutions Scholar application process; however, there is no guarantee that individual will be placed with your project. Please contact us if you have specific questions climate.collective@ubc.ca  

There will be 2-4 students per project, based on the project needs.    

Funding is only provided via stipends for the Solutions Scholars that work on the selected projects. There may be nominal additional funds available for the Scholars to use in dissemination and engagement related to the project. The applicant teams (faculty, research associates, postdoctoral researchers) do not receive any direct research funds.   

There is no direct funding provided to the applicants, so no budget is necessary. The Collective’s funding goes to provide stipends to the Solutions Scholars who will be working on the projects.  

Projects that are already partly in development but would benefit from the cross disciplinary nature of this program, and which enhance or create new climate connections across campus are eligible.  Please include this information in your NOI submission in the project description section. 

One of the objectives of this program is to catalyze new climate research activity amongst researchers at UBC.  Therefore, the second applicant should be a faculty member, research associate or postdoctoral researcher.  However, we understand that there are sometimes unique circumstances, and we suggest you reach out to us at climate.collective@ubc.ca if you have any questions.  Please note that students are not part of the applicant team as they will have the opportunity to apply to be the Solutions Scholars working on the selected projects.  

The NOI is intended to be an initial project concept. Applicants whose ideas are selected for the pitch session will then have the opportunity to further refine their project idea. Project ideas can evolve between the NOI and pitch session, though they should remain in line with the general concept outlined in the NOI. Note that the Collective’s staff and Steering Committee will be available to support teams preparing for the pitch session.   

Absolutely!  Because the NOI is intended as a conceptual idea for a project, there will be an opportunity to further refine projects and add details, including co-applicants.  Remember that there must be at least two UBC applicants who are willing to act as mentors for the Solutions Scholars project teams throughout the 2025-2026 year.  

We are finalizing these details and will share them through an update on this website.  In the past, those who have moved to the pitch session were requested to submit an oral presentation with supporting PowerPoint presentation as well as written submission providing additional project details. 

In addition to the identified deliverable at the end of the 10-month term, the Solutions Scholars will provide regular oral project updates throughout their time in the program. Mentors are expected to provide feedback to the Scholars at different points throughout the year.  We will also require participation of at least one project team mentor at the mid-year check in (December 2025) and Solutions Summit (April 2026). 

If your application was not successful last year, you may reapply with the same collaborators, however we recommend carefully considering the feedback that was provided.  If your project was successful last year, you may apply again, bearing in mind that first-time or early collaborators will be prioritized.