Deadline: 20-Aug-2025
The Morris Animal Foundation has opened its Wildlife Fellowship Training program to support research that advances the health and welfare of animals. The initiative focuses on funding humane, hypothesis-driven studies with strong scientific merit and potential for significant impact. The Foundation, a nonprofit supported by individuals, corporations, and other partners, seeks to bridge science and resources in the service of animal well-being.
Fellowship Training Grants are intended to help new investigators launch their research careers. The grants offer salary support within strong mentoring environments and emphasize research that benefits both the scientific community and society at large. Proposals should focus on improving wildlife health and welfare, with conservation efforts viewed specifically through an animal health lens. While managed care animals can be used as study proxies, all proposals must clearly show direct relevance to free-living wildlife populations.
Collaboration between academic and industry partners is encouraged to ensure that research results can be quickly applied in practice. Funding is available for up to 24 months, with a maximum budget of $145,000 per project.
Only one application as a principal investigator is allowed per applicant. Candidates must either hold a veterinary degree (like a DVM), a PhD, or be enrolled in a PhD program and have completed two years of study by the project’s start. Applicants with a PhD must have earned it within four years of the application deadline. Those in permanent salaried roles or with PhDs older than four years are ineligible and may consider applying for a different grant mechanism. Fellowship recipients must dedicate at least 75% of their time to the proposed project. Clinical residents and individuals with service requirements exceeding 25% are not eligible.
Applications undergo both administrative and scientific review. The administrative review ensures that submissions meet proposal guidelines. If approved, they move to scientific review, where members of the Scientific Advisory Board evaluate them for merit, potential impact, and overall quality. Only proposals that meet preliminary score thresholds proceed to full deliberation.
Proposals selected for funding are further reviewed by the Animal Welfare Advisory Board to ensure alignment with the Foundation’s animal welfare policies. Any concerns must be resolved before final approval.
Applicants should be the person submitting their own proposals. It is important to save work frequently during the submission process and allow enough time for institutional approval before the deadline. If errors are found after submission, applicants can “un-submit,” make changes, and re-submit the proposal.
For more information, visit Morris Animal Foundation.
