Deadline: 26-Jun-23
Applications for the Coexistence Fellowship are now open! This fellowship focuses on enabling researchers and conservationists, especially people from underrepresented communities, document and foster coexistence between people and wildlife.
The Coexistence Fellowship Program will enable researchers and conservationists to study, understand, implement, and facilitate the coexistence paradigm in conservation.
Mission
- To better understand, promote and mainstream a range of social, cultural, ecological interventions and institutions that enable coexistence through the minimisation of negative human-wildlife interactions and equitable sharing of costs and benefits.
Vision
- To promote human-wildlife coexistence and a more holistic, inclusive and just approach to nature conservation.
Values
- They need to rethink privilege, normative ideas, and practices in conservation that they have accepted;
- They seek new pathways to learning, sharing, and living in shared spaces;
- Successful coexistence requires local empowerment through partnerships;
- Coexistence needs to be grounded in empathy, taking into account human rights and animal welfare.
Programme Details
- The fellowship is open to people of Indian nationality for a period of two years.
- The project will be carried out by a team of two fellows, where at least one is from the project area.
- They encourage applicants from underrepresented communities to have a greater voice in conservation dialogues.
- The fellowship is specifically interested in supporting projects that are based on coexistence values and philosophy.
- The scope of the fellowship project includes both research (any discipline) and conservation initiatives with an overall aim to understand and foster coexistence between people and wildlife.
- The fellowship will include a mandatory 2-month training program where fellows will be exposed to different debates in conservation and coexistence, and provided with the skills necessary for interdisciplinary fieldwork. The training module will be conducted in English at the campus of University of Transdisciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU) in Bengaluru between October and November 2023.
- Throughout the project duration, the fellows will be mentored by members of the Coexistence Consortium.
Funding Information
- Each fellow will be given a stipend of INR 25,000 per month for two years. In addition, fieldwork expenses of up to INR 2,50,000 per year will also be provided.
Eligibility Criteria
- Only candidates looking to work full-time on the fellowship project will be considered. Ph.D. students are not eligible for this fellowship.
- Candidates that have been working in a particular landscape or issue for a prolonged period of time will be given preference.
- The fellowship is specifically for individuals who can benefit from the training and mentorship that they provide. Therefore, senior/already well-established conservationists and people with a Ph.D. or above are not eligible for the fellowship.
- Candidates will be encouraged to apply as a team of two, where at least one of the two fellows will need to be from the proposed project site. If suitable candidates apply individually, they will be supported for a one-month pilot survey to team up with a local partner.
- The training component of the fellowship will be held from 1st October 2023 to 30th November 2023 at The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU) in Bengaluru. Only candidates who can attend the in-person training will be considered for this fellowship.
- Strong preference will be given to projects that plan to work in close collaboration with the local community. Any proposed project has to be approved by local communities where the project is based, and this consent should be documented.
- For applicants who are not from the project landscape, an undergraduate degree (any discipline) is mandatory and a master’s degree (any discipline) is preferred.
- For candidates who are from the project landscape, education till 10th standard is essential and an undergraduate degree is preferred.
For more information, visit Coexistence Consortium.