New grant from ORCID in 2022: Global Participation Program
This past May, ORCID launched a global initiative to develop ORCID Communities of Practice in under-represented regions around the world. The goal of the Global Participation Program (GPP) is to help bridge the gap in ORCID uptake in countries which have been designated as having low- and lower-middle-income economies by the World Bank, particularly in the Global South, where ORCID participation to-date has been low.
There are two parts of the program: the Global Participation Fund and the Membership Equity Program. For the purposes of this blog post, we want to call attention to the Global Participation Fund, which is receiving the first round of applications through October 13. A current ORCID membership is not required.
Purpose of the Global Participation Fund
The Global Participation Fund (GPF) is a critical step towards realizing ORCID’s strategic objective to increase global participation in ORCID by improving equity of participation and remedying current gaps in organizational participation around the world. The GPF will initially offer two different grant programs:
1. Grants for Community Development and Outreach, which can be used to financially support local partners to build ORCID Communities of Practice in the Global South; and support local outreach, training, and tech support resources for the creation and growth of ORCID consortia that serve those regions.
2. Grants for Technical Integration, which can be used to fund software development to build and update ORCID integrations in open-source systems that will enable or facilitate participation in ORCID in currently under-represented regions and to support the creation of technical documentation, outreach, and support for resources created through the grants.
Universal uptake of ORCID is inherent in ORCID’s mission to enable transparent and trustworthy connections between researchers, their contributions, and their affiliations wherever they are. Current member organizations emphasize the importance of ORCID’s adoption universally around the world, however, although individual researchers in nearly every country have registered for ORCID iDs, organizational membership is lacking in much of the Global South.
ORCID Membership and Community Building
Organizational membership and community building in local contexts have been shown to be especially effective in fostering ORCID adoption among researchers in those locations. As researchers increase their visibility and claim credit for their work, the funders, publishers, and policymakers gain understanding of the contribution and impact of researchers in those countries. This visibility-to-adoption path helps academic institutions to better understand their global collaborations and benchmark their performance against others.
“We are actively working to bridge the gap in ORCID adoption in countries that have historically been underrepresented because we believe it will not only be beneficial to the researchers and organizations there, but also to the whole world, ” said Lombe Tembo, ORCID’s Grants Program Officer for the Global Participation Program.”We are excited about the future possibilities for new ORCID Communities of Practice and encourage non-members to also apply for funding.”
How to Apply
ORCID is currently welcoming applications for its first round of grants through October 13. To learn more about eligibility and requirements, visit the Global Participation Fund. To learn about the Membership Equity Program (our other program in the GPP), or the GPP’s financial partners, visit the Global Participation Program.
Acknowledgment
We thank Lombe Tembo, Grant Program Officer / Engagement Lead at ORCID, for writing this guest blog.
