Ecological Research Grant:

This grant provides support for Ecologists in Africa to carry out innovative ecological research. We recognize that ecologists in Africa face unique challenges in carrying out research; our grant is designed to support you to develop your skills, experience and knowledge base as well as making connections with ecologists internationally. We support excellent ecological science in Africa by funding services and equipment.

Sponsor:

British Ecological Society

Degree level:

For Masters Degree holders.

Subjects:

Ecology

Award Value:

The maximum value of a grant is £8,000 for research. An additional sum up to £2,000 may be requested to fund travel to help you develop connections with other ecologists outside your usual peer group. This must be requested at the application stage.

Travel funds are available to spend time working with ecologists in the Global North where facilities and experience will help you on return to your own institution.

Successful applicants also receive two years of free BES membership and free online access to our journals.

Eligible Countries:

Africans

Eligibility Criteria:

You should:

• be a scientist and a citizen of a country in Africa or its associated islands, that is a ‘low-income economy’ or ‘lower-middle-income economy’ according to the World Bank categorization
• have at least an MSc or equivalent degree
• be working for a university or research institution in Africa (including field centers, NGOs, museums etc.) that provides basic research facilities
• carry out the research in a country in Africa or its associated islands (This currently excludes – Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Namibia and South Africa).
• From January 2018 our Ecologists in Africa Grant will open twice per year, in line with all other BES grants.
• The proposed work must be completed within 18 months.
• It is a condition of all of our grant schemes that applicants submit a report within three months of the end date of your award. Reports will be submitted via our online grants system.
• The grant can be used to pay for basic tools needed to conduct the research project, travel and in some cases part of the applicant’s salary. It cannot be used for tuition fees.
• This grant cannot be used to support research degrees; however, researchers who have already been registered at a research institute or university for at least six months by the application deadline for the grant, can apply for funding for research that goes towards a degree. Applicants in these circumstances need to indicate that they have already gone some way to starting their research and that the money will not go towards course fees or personal salary.

Application Procedure Instructions:

As part of the application process two referees will be required to submit statements of support. If you are applying for travel funds, one of these must be from your host institution.

These statements should include why the project is important, what support will be given to you and a statement that any equipment bought for the project will be made available for anyone in the host institution to conduct ecological research. We will automatically contact the referees using the email addresses provided in the application; both reference statements must be completed online before the application deadline. We cannot accept referee statements sent independently via email or by letter.

Apply Now

Application Deadline:

19 March 2021