Deadline: 16-Oct-2022

Amazon is welcoming proposals related to climate risk/resilience, life cycle assessment, circular strategies, and more.

Amazon develops and test strategies that support revenue growth while reducing negative environmental and social impact. Amazon works with the external science community to drive Amazon’s mission goals. Amazon accelerates adoption of trustworthy sustainable practices at Amazon by guiding critical decision makers with crisp recommendations backed by scientific rigor. Amazon removes ambiguity around sustainable choices and provides them scientifically credible concepts, reports, data, and tools that they can use to make informed decisions.

Amazon Sustainability works to make Amazon the most environmentally and socially responsible place to buy or sell goods and services. Amazon conducts 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 to Amazon to inform business planning and resilience.

Amazon 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.

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.

Expectations from recipients

To the extent deemed reasonable, Award recipients should acknowledge the support from Amazon Research Awards (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.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible for an ARA Program award (“Award”), the Principal Investigator must be (1) 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 (2) 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 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.

For more information, visit https://www.amazon.science/research-awards/call-for-proposals/sustainability-fall-2022