Global Biodiversity Information Facility - GBIF Young Researchers Award

The 2025 programme will provide two €5,000 prizes recognizing the work of two early-career researchers. Candidates receive formal nominations from the node managers and heads of delegation from GBIF Participant countries, who generally select one master’s and one PhD candidate whose nominations are then forwarded to the GBIF Secretariat.

An expert jury coordinated through GBIF Science Committee will then select two award recipients from the pool of nominees whose names are received by the GBIF Secretariat by Friday, 27 June 2025 (23:59 UTC+2). The GBIF Secretariat will announce winners prior to the 32nd meeting of the GBIF Governing Board (GB32), on 18-20 October 2025 in Bogotá, Colombia, and present their work at that meeting.

Submission process and deadlines

Students seeking nomination must apply to the node manager or head of delegation from a GBIF Voting or Associate Participant country. National participants are responsible for establishing their own deadlines and processes for receiving and processing student applications. As a result, graduate students who seek nomination should consult the websites of their national GBIF Participants or contact the node manager or head of delegation directly.

Student nominations are first reviewed and prioritized at the national level. GBIF national nodes are encouraged to work closely with the academic communities and higher education institutions in their countries and to engage relevant university programmes and research groups. Nominations

National node managers and/or heads of delegation may submit a maximum of two nominees per country to the GBIF Secretariat to gradresearchersaward@GBIF.org by the deadline for submissions: 27 June 2025. Submitting node managers and heads of delegations are responsible for ensuring that forwarded nominations are complete and include all the elements listed below. Incomplete nominations will not be considered.