Program Overview
The Research Fellowship Program (RFP) is administered by WCS-Global Conservation’s Training & Capacity Building Program and jointly funded by the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP). The RFP is a small grants program designed to build capacity for the next generation of conservationists through supporting individual field research projects that have a clear application to the conservation of threatened wildlife and wildlife habitat. We seek projects that are based on sound and innovative conservation science and that encourage practices in conservation that can contribute to sustainable development. Most of the grantees are professional conservationists from the country of research and/or post-graduates pursuing a higher degree.

Since its establishment in 1993, the Research Fellowship Program has been a major international source of small grants to support applied conservation science. In 35 application rounds between 1994 and 2007, over 2,000 proposals totaling a little over $23 million have been submitted to the program for funding. Of these, 296 (13%) proposals totaling over $3 million have been funded. We received proposals to conduct research in sites all over the world, funding 121 of 954 (12.7%) proposals received for Latin America, 76 of 582 (13.1%) for Africa, 82 of 558 (14.7%) for Asia, and 13 of 159 (8.2%) for the marine realm.

One of the priorities of the RFP has been to help train applied conservation scientists from developing countries. Over 41% of the total funded proposals have come from national conservationists (conservationists who are citizens of the country where they are conducting their research). 48% of grants to work in Latin America have been to nationals, 43% of grants to work in Asia have been to nationals, and 32% of grants to work in Africa have been to nationals. Collectively, these young professionals will help to apply field-tested conservation science to the challenges facing the conservation community.

Applications

Location The RFP supports marine or terrestrial field research in Africa, Asia, and Latin America regardless of the nationality of the applicant. In addition, the RFP accepts applications from Native Americans (US) and First Nation Peoples (Canada) who intend to conduct work on native lands on issues of direct relevance to wildlife.

While all applications to work in Asian, African, and Latin American countries are considered, CLP funding is restricted to nationals from the following countries: Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Egypt, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey and Venezuela.

The RFP does not support research in North America (except as mentioned above), Australia, New Zealand, Europe or their territories, or Japan.

Grantees

The RFP will not limit any eligible individual from applying, however, most of our grantees are:

• Professional conservationists from the country of research, and/or
• Post-graduates pursuing a higher degree

Grants

Grants are for up to $25,000 The average grants is $10,500.

Timeline

The RFP supports projects for only one year, so preference is given to discrete, short-term projects. Projects extending beyond one year must highlight achievable goals at the end of the year for which the funding is requested. Proposals are submitted in a standard format for two annual cycles with deadlines on March 15 and September 15. Final decisions and awards are usually announced at the end of June (for the March 15 deadline) and December (for the September 15 deadline) with funding becoming available in July and January.

Review and Evaluation

Proposals are evaluated on a competitive basis by outside technical reviewers and WCS staff. Projects are evaluated on three major criteria:

• Applicant's potential as a conservation professional: the capacity building value of the proposed project.
• Relevance to wildlife conservation: a clear application of the research results to an important conservation question
• Scientific merit and value: in particular a clearly expressed research question with appropriate methodology and analysis.

For more detailed information about the application process please click on the following link Application Guidelines & Procedures