HMEI Biodiversity Research Challenge Announces Call for Proposals

The High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI) is pleased to announce a call for innovative research and teaching proposals on behalf of the Thomas A. and Currie C. Barron Family Biodiversity Research Challenge Fund (Biodiversity Challenge)  — a long-term research and teaching cooperative under the flagship Grand Challenges Program  The goal is to encourage research, teaching and mentorship that (1) enhances understanding of biodiversity; (2) examines the effects of environmental change on biodiversity; and (3) explores what can be done to stem the loss of biodiversity, now and in the future.

The Biodiversity Challenge recognizes that the great variety of life on Earth — from genes to ecosystems — is the defining feature of our planet. Biodiversity sustains humanity by underpinning our food-production systems, stabilizing the climate, and producing clean air and water. Biodiversity also enriches our lives through its beauty and majesty. Yet, today, our use and abuse of biodiversity has reached the point at which our health, wealth, and emotional wellbeing are at risk. This crisis is manifested in the growing roster of extinct and endangered species, the decreasing acreage of tropical forests and other relatively undisturbed ecosystems, and the degradation of important ecosystem services in places around the world.

This initiative aims to catalyze new scholarship and teaching around biodiversity across the full breadth of academic disciplines at Princeton, including the natural sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities, and engineering. Multi-disciplinary work is encouraged because solutions to the biodiversity crisis must ultimately be scientifically based, economically feasible, socially acceptable, and, above all, something that people desire.

Priority in the selection process will be given to proposals that allow faculty and senior research staff to move into a new area of research and/or produce collaborations involving two or more faculty from different academic disciplines and with potential to attract larger extramural grants and other sources of support. We especially encourage proposals that focus on research that addresses the challenge of conserving biodiversity in a rapidly changing world. Like other Grand Challenges, research projects must include significant undergraduate-focused educational activities, such as courses and/or immersive experiences for undergraduates (e.g., multi-year sequences of assignments culminating in senior independent work, publishable research, or other forms of creative work). Proposals will be evaluated on how well they address both the teaching and research missions of the Grand Challenges Program.

Several awards of up to $200,000 in funding/project will be made for expenditure over a two-year period.

The deadline for proposals is January 30, 2026.

Visit the Call for Proposals page for more information and to apply.