BC Parks Living Lab for Climate Change & Conservation Program

Living Lab LogoFunding Application – 2025

The BC Parks Living Lab for Climate Change and Conservation Program promotes B.C.’s protected areas as places to learn about the effects of climate change, how to mitigate and manage for these effects, and how to share this information among and between academics and practitioners. B.C.’s protected areas are less developed than much of the rest of the province, so parks serve as a “living lab,” and can help us understand the impact of climate change on the natural world. Climate-informed conservation research in protected areas can also reveal areas that are critical to connectivity within and adjacent to the protected areas system which in turn can inform management decisions.

Applicants are encouraged to consider the Living Lab Program’s goals and priority projects and research themes in their application. Please be explicit about how your proposed project is relevant to climate change and its impacts, including the management implications for BC Parks.

Each application will be considered on the basis of:

  • Contribution to understanding climate change impacts and how to manage for impacts in BC’s provincial parks;
  • Objectives, methodology and approach;
  • Qualifications and experience;
  • Budget including other sources of funding (e.g., how Living Lab funding assistance contributes to other research or if there is an opportunity to leverage additional funds).

Successful applications will be chosen to ensure that the Living Lab research projects:

  • Are endorsed by regional BC Parks staff;
  • Acknowledge and include Indigenous stewardship in the project proposal, its results and/or application of results;  and
  • Support improved management of the conservation, cultural and/or recreational values within B.C.’s provincial park system.

Applications must be submitted by 11:59pm on October 25, 2024. Preliminary decisions on priority projects for Living Lab funding will be announced in January 2025.  Funding will be awarded in spring, subject to confirmation of its availability in the provincial budget.

Successful projects commence in the spring of 2025 and end in March 2026. All deliverables for 2025 projects are due March 19, 2026.

 

Eligibility:

Lead applicants must be professors who hold a current teaching or research position with a public post-secondary institution in BC. Adjunct professors are not eligible for Living Lab funding.

Organizations or individuals working in partnership with a professor as described above are also encouraged to apply.  All successful applicants must be available to share the preliminary results of their project at the annual Living Lab Research Colloquium in December 2025 (location to be confirmed and event may be virtual).

Additionally, please ensure that all relevant First Nations in your proposed research area are aware of your intentions and support the goals of your research project (at least in principle). For guidance on best practices when engaging with local First Nations, visit Consulting with First Nations – Province of British Columbia (gov.bc.ca). To help identify the traditional territory that overlaps with your project footprint, use the PIP Consultation Areas (gov.bc.ca) map tool.

Protocols for engagement with local First Nations must be part of your discussions with BC Parks staff. For information on First Nation engagement and help identifying the appropriate staff, contact Jeanine Bond or Stephen Ban.

  • (minimum $10K; maximum $30K)
    Please enter a number from 10000 to 30000.
  • (name of protected area(s))

  • Ideal project start and end dates:

  • MM slash DD slash YYYY
  • MM slash DD slash YYYY

  • Description of Project:

  • This should not contain any references, unexplained abbreviations, or technical jargon. Think of it as an abstract for someone who is unfamiliar with your field. (250 words max)
  • Make note if the proposal involves destructive or non-destructive sampling (e.g., removal of material from parks), use of drones or other methods that might disturb wildlife, whether any personal information will be collected (intentionally or unintentionally), and/or whether the proposal requires human or animal ethics approval.
  • (please attach any correspondence at the bottom)
  • (150 words max)
  • (250 words max)
  • Budget:
    Please indicate if this application is a component of a larger project and include budgetary context here. Recipients of Living Lab funding are required to present results and attend Research Colloquium in December 2025 (virtually or in person). Travel and accommodation to attend Colloquium are acceptable expenses. BC Parks pays 5% overhead for university funding transfers as per the Living Lab Overhead policy (Nov 2017). Download the budget template [XLSX], fill out the applicable fields, and attach it below.
  • Drop files here or
    Accepted file types: xls, xlsx, doc, docx, Max. file size: 16 MB.
    • Proposed study area:
      Please upload a map showing the proposed study area. This can either be in the form of a shapefile or other geo-referenced file type, or a simple JPG or PDF of the map.
    • Drop files here or
      Accepted file types: shp, shx, dbf, prj, kml, kmz, jpg, png, pdf, zip, zip001, zip002, zip003, Max. file size: 32 MB.
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