Sustainability Call for Proposals Fall 2022
Fellowship 15.10.2022Welcoming proposals related to climate risk/resilience, life cycle assessment, circular strategies, and more
Amazon’s Sustainability works to make Amazon the most environmentally and socially responsible place to buy or sell goods and services.
They conduct research to map, model and measure the end-to-end environmental and social impact of the company and vet sustainability topics that will have the greatest future impact on Amazon to inform business planning and resilience. They develop and test strategies that support revenue growth while reducing negative environmental and social impact. They work with the external scientific community to drive our mission goals. We accelerate the adoption of trustworthy sustainable practices at Amazon by guiding critical decision-makers with crisp recommendations backed by scientific rigour. They remove ambiguity around sustainable choices and provide them with scientifically credible concepts, reports, data, and tools that they can use to make informed decisions.
They welcome proposals related to the topics below:
- Climate risk/resilience
- Life cycle assessment
- Social responsibility / labor rights / human rights
- Circular strategies
- Plastics
- Waste
- Water
- Machine learning for sustainability
Proposals should be prepared according to the proposal template. In addition, to submit a proposal for this CFP, please also include the following information:
- Please list the open-source tools you plan to contribute to.
- Please list the AWS ML tools you will use.
ARA will make the funding decisions based on the potential impact on the research community and the quality of the scientific content.
To the extent deemed reasonable, Award recipients should acknowledge the support from ARA. Award recipients will inform ARA of publications, presentations, code and data releases, blogs/social media posts, and other speaking engagements referencing the results of the supported research or the Award. Award recipients are expected to provide updates and feedback to ARA via surveys or reports on the status of their research. Award recipients will have an opportunity to work with ARA on an informational statement about the awarded project that may be used to generate visibility for their institutions and ARA.
Benefits
Selected Principal Investigators (PIs) may receive the following:
- Unrestricted funds, no more than $80,000 USD on average
- Training resources, including AWS tutorials and hands-on sessions with Amazon scientists and engineers
- Awards are structured as one-year unrestricted gifts. The budget should include a list of expected costs specified in USD, and should not include administrative overhead costs. The final award amount will be determined by the awards panel.
Eligibilities
- Researchers from around the world are encouraged to apply.
To be eligible for an ARA Program award (“Award”), the Principal Investigator must be
- either a full-time faculty member at an accredited academic institution or a permanent researcher at a non-governmental organization with recognized legal status in their respective country (equivalent to 501(c)(3) status under the United States Internal Revenue Code) and
- at or above the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence at the time of application. Each Principal Investigator is permitted to submit only one proposal to the ARA Program per call for the proposal period.
By submitting your proposal to the ARA Program, you represent that your Principal Investigator:
- is not a paid employee of a government entity (other than an accredited academic institution);
- is not under US export controls or sanctions;
- has not been a director, officer, employee, intern or contractor of Amazon or its affiliates within the 12 months preceding application to the ARA Program (“Ineligible Personnel”);
- is not a member of the immediate family or household of Ineligible Personnel;
- has not participated in or had decision-making authority over any cloud infrastructure procurements involving AWS or its affiliates; and
- The ARA Program is void in Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Sudan, the region of Crimea, and where otherwise prohibited by law.
- Amazon employees are not eligible to receive an Award.
APPLICATION PROCESS
- No proposal to the ARA Program may contain any confidential information and no part may be marked as ‘confidential.’
- Amazon does not accept any legal obligation (whether of confidentiality, compensation, return or otherwise) with respect to any proposals.
- Amazon reserves the right to implement competitive, similar, or identical ideas in the future, without restriction or obligation.
- You understand and acknowledge that Amazon has wide access to technology, designs, and other materials, and may work on and/or develop projects and ideas that may be competitive with, similar to, or identical to your proposal in theme, idea, format or other respects, inclusive.
- You acknowledge and agree that you will not be entitled to any compensation as a result of Amazon’s use of any such similar or identical material that has or may come to Amazon from other sources.
You represent and warrant that your proposal
- is either your original work or an update to the original work;
- does not, to your knowledge, infringe any third-party patent rights; and
- Does not infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate any other third-party intellectual property rights (i.e. other than patent rights), including any copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, contract or licensing rights, rights of publicity or privacy, or moral rights.
Application Deadline: October 19, 2022 (4 Days Remaining)
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