BioD Moderators

An international committee on biodiversity (ICB) of Mission 2015's choosing will be a general biodiversity body; however, in order for ICB-initiated research to properly match the needs of the community researching and conserving biodiversity, the ultimate decisions on what research gets pushed forward should be made by a panel of experts: conservation biologists, environmental engineers, and other specialists. That is why we propose that each country represented in the ICB invite such an expert from a technology-focused university within its jurisdiction. The following institutions will be contacted during the process of website creation and invited to be among the first to join and beta-test the forum. In addition, one faculty member from each of the institutions will be invited to become a BioD moderator:

• MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), United States
• Moscow State Bauman Technical University, Russia
• IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), India
• Cambridge University, England
• CIT (Canberra Institute of Technology), Australia
• BIJ (Beijing Institute of Technology) , China
• KIT (Kyoto Institute of Technology), Japan

Each member country will be allowed to select a specialist; however, the above are some of Mission 2015's suggested universities and corresponding countries. Even though all universities can join the website and become the part of the initiative, the role of the above institutions is to provide one faculty member specializing in the fields of conservational biology, civil engineering or another area of study deemed appropriate by the International Committee. Those selected experts will form the BioD group of moderators and will have the following responsibilities on the BioD forum:

1. The ICB must have at least one ICB-Initiated Research Project presented in their section of the website. That means that at least one global biodiversity project is in progress at any one point in time. In order for that project to have a significant impact on global biodiversity, it has to be brought forth by experts in the fields of biodiversity, research, and technology. Thus, the BioD moderators will be in charge of selecting and formulating the ICB-Initiated Research Projects.
2. BioD Moderators will be responsible for reviewing submitted grant proposals and determining which best support the mission of the BioD Forum. They will be the authority on determining the extent to which a project should be funded.
3. BioD Moderators will be responsible for "surfing" the forum and selecting research discussions on the threads pertaining to privately-initiated research that they find especially interesting and for selecting "BioD-Supported" research by majority vote (this system is described below). Moderators can post their own ideas and participate in forum discussions.
4. BioD Moderators will be responsible for banning members in case of violation of intellectual property rights and banning members in case of violation of other website rules by 2/3 electronic vote. (Forum rules and terms of use are addressed below.)

Feedback System:

With numerous research discussions and biodiversity suggestions posted in the sections of the BioD form, there must exist a ranking system to determine which research supports BioD's mission more than others. In order to facilitate feedback, BioD Moderators will express their interest in research in the following format: each posted research project will have a description and a small voting window next to it. This voting window will contain two options, "Moderator Support" and "Moderator Disapproval," which will be visible only to BioD members with the moderator certificate. Each of the moderators will have one vote per project and will be able to either "Support", "Disapprove" or maintain neutrality by not voting at all.

If a majority of moderators "support" a particular research project through electronic vote, it is moved to the top of the page and gets special consideration if the ICB obtains funds to sponsor a collaborative biodiversity research project.

If a majority of moderators "disapprove" a research project, it is moved towards the bottom of the page. If a project is simply inappropriate for the forum and has no relation to the BioD's mission or insults the mission, there will be an option called "Motion to Remove" next to every project. If the motion is given by one of the moderators and is supported by at least two other moderators, the research topic is removed.