Templeton Foundation: Foundational Questions in Evolutionary Biology [FQEB] project - 3 pages Letters of Interest
Name: |
Templeton Foundation: Foundational Questions in Evolutionary Biology [FQEB] project
Application deadline: 31/01/12 |
General description: |
The FQEB project aims to fund at least 10 research projects ($200K/year X 2 years) to generate new kinds of knowledge and understanding in core areas in biology where there have been serious "missing knowledge problems." There are 2 core themes of this initiative: Theme 1: "Evolutionary Origins and Dynamics": * What is the transition from chemical kinetics to evolutionary dynamics, and can the transition from non-evolving to evolving systems be defined precisely and formally? * Are there different kinds of evolution, and is there evolution in the context of evolution itself? * What are the natural laws of evolutionary change, and can we derive a complete mathematical theory of evolutionary laws? * How does population structure affect evolutionary dynamics, and what role might coordination/cooperation play? * What are the differences between genetic and cultural evolution, and how can these differences be formalized? * What is the role of chance (stochasticity) in evolutionary dynamics? Theme 2: "Evolvability and the Evolution of Increasing Complexity": * What are the typical limits of evolvability, and how are these transcended? * Why does evolution (sometimes) lead to increasing complexity? * What are the evolutionary origins of emergence? * How does cooperation affect construction? * Can we build precise models for the evolution of cells, multi-cellular organisms, animal societies and human language? * What is the role of multi-level selection in the larger evolutionary process? http://www.templeton.org/node/1521
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Source: |
Foreign
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Budget: |
$200K/year X 2 years
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Number of research years: |
2
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Contact person: |
Robi, 2152, robertg@trdf.technion.ac.il; Xenia, 3059, Xeniam@trdf.technion.ac.il
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Fields: |
Water,energy and environment
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Type of fund: |
The fund is not a competitive fund
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Related fund and profiles: |
John Templeton Foundation - JTF ,Access available for Technion staff. Please sign in to see the Agency profiles (upper left corner) |