The Global Access Fund (GAF) 2024

Deadline: Application due date: October 11, 2024. | The Global Access Fund (GAF) |

The Global Access Fund (GAF) was established to enable communities worldwide to make their research outputs discoverable. It will provide financial support for both outreach activities and infrastructure development to enable organizations in regions and communities currently underrepresented in the global open science infrastructure landscape to benefit from DataCite infrastructure services

What we fund):

The Global Access Fund will allocate funding to projects in the following areas:

1. Outreach  and engagement activities to support increasing awareness and adoption of global and local solutions and connect to community initiatives, such as:

• Capacity building to deliver training to research administrators and librarians on open infrastructure and service fundamentals (DOIs, metadata, APIs), implementation (e.g. DataCite API integration in repository and other systems, metadata curation) and demonstrating value of the connection to local infrastructure services to the community.
• Events (Webinars, workshops, virtual communication campaigns) to promote open infrastructure, discuss and amplify participation and adoption strategies and plans leveraging local initiatives.
• Outreach resource development to deliver content (videos, social media content, podcasts, tutorials, etc.) that documents use cases, success stories, benefits of DataCite infrastructure in local/regional contexts, including materials in innovative formats and languages other than English.

2. Open Infrastructure development and integration to enable and increase the adoption of DataCite infrastructure and related services, such as:

• Repository, publishing and other system development and implementation to allow organizations to integrate DataCite APIs and metadata 
• DataCite API integrations to connect local and national systems with the DataCite Registry
• Development of new tools and systems to obtain additional value from DataCite infrastructure (e.g. visualizations, statistics tools, metadata enrichment tools, CRIS systems, etc.). 

Eligibility (Who can apply):

• Representatives of non-profit stakeholders within the research ecosystem (e.g. research institutions, associations, NRENs, government bodies, service providers, etc.) based in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia can apply. Applicants should be authorized to apply on behalf of their organization (legal entity).
• Applications are open to both DataCite member and non-member organizations.
• Preference will be given to applications from countries classified as lower or middle-income.
• Although current awardees can apply for funding, preference might be given to applications from new organizations and projects.
• Organizations can submit a maximum of one application per funding category (outreach and infrastructure), which means we will accept a maximum of two applications per organization.

Funding 

The following funding levels are available for individual projects in each of the three areas:

• Outreach activities: up to 10,000 EUR
• Infrastructure development: up to 20,000 EUR

Access to DataCite services

In cases where access to DataCite registration services is needed as part of the proposal, we will provide access to the organizations which are awarded grants for the duration of one calendar year. This access will enable them to leverage DataCite’s infrastructure and services to enhance the visibility and accessibility of their research outputs. Please note that access to services does not constitute membership. Applicants are required to submit a sustainability plan as part of their proposal, outlining how they plan to continue accessing these services following the funding period and preserve the metadata of outputs for which they will register DOIs.

Application process and support

To apply for funding, applicants should complete this form. For further information you can check our FAQs. You can also register for one of our upcoming webinars. During these sessions, we will share more about the Global Access Fund goal, scope, application, and evaluation process. There will be plenty of time for Q&A.

For more information about Global Access Fund GAF, Visit GAF’s official website