Preamble - Pilots for the NFDI4Earth 
1st call (June 29, 2020) - Submission Deadline: July 24, 2020
The aim of the Earth System Science Pilots in the NFDI4Earth is to contribute to a broad, sustainable, and innovative development of the consortium. Pilots serve, for instance, for requirements engineering in the different task areas. The extent of a pilot should not exceed 1 person-year.

1.	Proposals for pilots will be evaluated in an open review process. Both the proposals and the anonymous reviews will be made accessible. By submitting a proposal, you as PI agree to an open access evaluation of the proposal.
2.	Criteria for the evaluation of the pilots will be in equal parts (scored on a 5 points scale for each criterion):
•	Quality and Innovation (relevance beyond state-of-the-art)
•	Feasibility (leveraging existing technologies)
•	Potential for engaging a broad user community (also potential for linking scientific users and information infrastructures)  
•	Potential for integration into the NFDI4Earth (relevance to the NFDI4Earth as whole e.g. in terms of contributing to a measure like education, interoperability, archiving, and clearly addressing relevant aspects of the research data life cycle)
3.	It is important to note that the selected set of pilots must represent a broad range of disciplines within the Earth System Sciences. Hence, pilots may be selected that score a bit lower than others on the criteria mentioned above in order to cover a wider range of disciplines and interrelations.
4.	Submissions should follow the template below - text must contain proper references and links where appropriate. 
5.	Pilots must be described as short as possible and not exceed 4 pages. However, we will not exclude anyone who does not exactly respect the constraints. But precise wording is what counts.

Note: If the submitted pilot proposal is successful, the applicant agrees
•	that the PIs parent institution will be named as participant (with the PI as representative) of the NFDI4Earth,
•	that a letter of commitment is provided in due time (due to DFG regulations the letter has to be signed by your institution),
•	that the person submitting the pilot will support the proposal writing process as it will be requested by the NFDI4Earth editorial team     

Also note: The submission is subject to a review process and does not guarantee any funding. 

PILOT TITLE - NOT LONGER THAN ONE LINE
Name Lastname1, Name Lastname2, Name Lastname1, and Name Lastname2

1Affiliation
2Affiliation

Date of submission
Abstract
We expect a summary of the pilot organized as follows (one sentence for each point): 1. General introduction to scientific context/or overarching science question, 2. Concrete problem under scrutiny, 3. Objective of the pilot (max. two sentences), 4. Expected results, 5. Stakeholders of the pilot 6. Perspective of the pilot - if successful - for advancing the NFDI4Earth as a whole (max. two sentences).
.
I.	Introduction
Needs to explain the following questions 
•	What is the scientific context? Or what is the overarching science question?
•	What is the data-challenge you face and what is the state-of-the-art?
•	What is the vision if your challenge would be solved?
II.	Pilot description
Describes the Pilot (can also include a flow-chart). 
•	What is the technological backbone you rely upon?
•	Which are the standards and interoperability approaches used in the pilot’s context?
•	What is the proposed solution?
•	What is the innovation compared to the status quo?
III.	Relevance for the NFDI4Earth
Explains integration and uptake potential. 
•	What are expected users and stakeholders and how do they benefit (describe your stakeholders referencing the following general archetypes: scientists, data curator, infrastructure provider, system integrator, university teacher, public authority, decision-maker)?
•	What is the potential for other sub-branches in the Earth System Sciences?
•	What elements of FAIR are particularly addressed?
•	What aspects of the research data life cycle are particularly addressed?
•	Are there particular contributions that help the NFDI4Earth to engage with (e.g. innovative methods, education, advancing interoperability, new platforms,...)?
IV.	Deliverables
List the names and specifications of the two deliverables:
•	Technical operability of the pilot (e.g. software shared, developed interface, implementation and dissemination of knowledge/data etc.).
•	Roadmap document for the community (we expect a title of the roadmap you plan to deliver).
V.	Work Plan & Requested funding 
•	Provide a milestone plan (or Gantt Chart) for the planned (up to) one-year implementation phase
•	The maximum threshold for a funding request is a one year full time equivalent