Frontiers Planet Prize: Science for a Sustainable Planet

Frontiers Research Foundation has launched the Planet Prize to recognize and reward exceptional scientists. Three prizes worth a total of CHF 3 million (~USD $3.2m) will be awarded in 2023 to the world’s most innovative sustainability scientists who are able to offer globally scalable solutions which protect and restore planetary health. All domains of science will be considered. 

FAQs 

1. How is the ISC involved? The ISC comes in as a partner facilitating submissions from regions and countries who do not yet have in place a mechanism for applications for the prize. 

2. Can anyone apply? Before submitting your nomination, the ISC invites you to consult the official list of countries and regions, and proceed via the following:

• If you are from an institution that has not registered as a National Nominating Body (NNB) and does not have a National Representative Body (NRB), please submit your nominations using the form below.
• If you are from an institution that has already registered as NNB and/or, already has an NRB, please get in touch with the Planet Prize team via [email protected].

3. Who should apply? 

Nominations are welcomed from universities, national scientific academies, and funding agencies. All submitted research must advance an understanding and offer solutions that address at least one of the nine planetary boundaries, and have the potential for measurable global impact.

If you wish for your university to be listed as part of the network of National Nominating Bodies, please get in touch with [email protected] and a member of the Planet Prize team will be able to support with your registration.

4. What are the criteria? The Planet Prize will honour research published in established peer-reviewed scientific journals in the past two calendar years (date of acceptance: 1 November 2020 to 31 October 2022) that has the greatest potential to help keep the Earth system within planetary boundaries.

 5. Who will judge the prize? A jury of 100 leading sustainability scientists will be part of the voting panel, and act completely independently from the Foundation, National Nominating and National Representative Bodies. Their role is to evaluate all nominations received from the National Representative Bodies of participating countries, to select a winning National Champion in each country or region. In a second round of voting, from the pool of National Champions, the jury will then select three International Champions, each of whom will be award the CHF 1 million to advance their research.

Online Information Session

Jean-Claude Burgelman (Frontiers Planet Prize Director), Gilbert De Gregorio, (Frontiers Planet Prize Head of Partnerships) and Mathieu Denis (ISC Acting CEO and Science Director) held an information session on 27 October. During this session, they shared the overall mission and objectives of the Planet Prize, the eligibility criteria for scientists, the mechanics of the evaluation process, and the role of the ISC in aggregating nominations.

Recording of the information session: please contact Gabriela Ivan for the recording: [email protected]

Applications

Nominations made through the ISC process can be submitted through the webform anytime up to 1 December 2022. Each institution is able to submit a maximum of 3 nominations, and each nomination must feature research published in established peer-reviewed scientific journals where the acceptance date falls between 1 November 2020 to 31 October 2022. All submitted research must be in English.

The Nine Planetary Boundaries 

The submitted research must offer solutions addressing at least one of nine planetary boundaries and have the potential for measurable global impact. Sustainability scientists have identified nine planetary boundaries that we cannot cross without risking the collapse of life on Earth as we know it. Johan Rockström and Owen Gaffney have described these boundaries in their book Breaking Boundaries, as well as on the website of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. Action is needed now to prevent us from crossing these boundaries and, where we have already transgressed them, to guide a safe and just transformation of the world back to within Planetary Boundaries.

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We look forward to your contributions to this grand challenge that brings together the scientific community across the world, offering major recognition for the most relevant and recent scientific insights that help navigate and secure humanity’s future. For further information, please contact Gabriela Ivan, [email protected].