iDiv has supported biodiversity research through various funding mechanisms, including the iDiv Flexpool, Strategic Projects, Seed Funding, and more since 2012. Last year, the Flexpool Board reviewed funding decisions spanning over a decade from 2012-2024, focusing on approval rates by institution and gender, as well as differences between early-career and senior researchers.
The review included 20 funding calls that resulted in the submission of 325 proposals submitted and the approval of 208 approved projects. The data indicate no systematic bias in the distribution of funding across the iDiv consortium or among genders. On average, proposals from any of the participating institutions had a 60-70% chance of success and proposals led by either female or male Principle Investigators (PIs) had approval rates of more than 60%.
Despite the lower number of female iDiv members compared to male members, women were in most years notably more active and successful in submitting project proposals. For instance, in 2021, only 30% of iDiv members were female, yet 62% of the project proposals were submitted by female PIs, and 69% of the successful proposals were led by female PIs. While there were some variations in funding rates between genders across different funding mechanisms (i.e. between senior and early-career researchers), no clear pattern emerged, which is potentially due to limited data.
Overall, iDiv’s funding review shows that iDiv has generally done a good job of distributing the available funds within the consortium as a whole and among its members, showing no systematic biases. Nevertheless, we need to continue actively promoting participation and engagement but also consider other types of diversity (both in our membership and when evaluating our funding decisions) as we move forward. The Flexpool Board will continue monitoring these data regularly to stay abreast of developments and to develop regulation policies where necessary.
The full report is available here: Download PDF
Contact: jan.schnitzler@idiv.de