Deadline: 8-Jun-23
The Tiny Beam Fund is inviting applications for the Burning Questions Initiative (BQI) Fellowship Awards.
The fellowships are offered by Tiny Beam Fund, a small US-based charitable foundation.
- Tiny Beam Fund’s flagship Burning Questions Initiative (BQI) was launched as a response to a specific need – the need for a much deeper understanding of the complex problems associated with large-scale, industrial animal agriculture, especially in low- and middle-income countries, and the need to translate the understanding into practical steps to address the problems.
- This need is especially urgent for civil society groups working with various stakeholders to improve the situation and advocate for change. Tiny Beam Fund requests knowledgeable staff members in the groups as well as their funders to share their “burning questions”. Funds are then offered to academic researchers to shed light on the questions and provide practical advice.
- Why academic researchers? Their training and skill set is well-suited to investigating the thorny questions. Academics are also increasingly interested in studying industrial animal agriculture’s impacts in developing countries for their own scholarly purposes.
Award Categories
- Two categories of awards:
- Category 1: (for a single individual PhD-holder or a team of up to four individuals with a PhD-holder as the lead/PI).
- Category 2: (for a single individual PhD student close to completion of PhD or a team of up to four individuals with a PhD student as the lead/PI).
- Stage 1 (5 months): Research
- The research should address and bring deeper understanding to issues raised in the “burning questions”, have practical applications, and include guidance for those interested in taking action. It is possible for recipients to do additional research that provides materials for their own academic work.
- Main deliverable: A “Guidance Memo”. This is a 8,000–10,000 words report written in plain language.
- Examples: One, Two, Three.
- Stage 2 (4 months): Dissemination
- Communicate Guidance Memo and research findings to non-academic audience. It is especially important to reach those persons, organizations, stakeholders most impacted by the issues addressed and/or interested in using the findings in their efforts to tackle large-scale/industrial animal agriculture in LMICs.
- Deliverable: At least three distinct dissemination activities. For example: A webinar for NGOs and follow-ups to help participants learn more. A talk open to the public hosted by a university’s Center for the Environment. A meeting of stakeholders to discuss working on the research findings collaboratively.
Burning Question Categories
- Production & supply (PROD)
- Consumption & demand (CON)
- Governments & policies (GOV)
- Agribusiness & value chains (AGB)
- Economic and financial aspects (ECON)
- Social movements & ngos (SOC)
- Environmental issues (ENV)
- Animal welfare issues (AW)
Funding Information
- Two categories of awards are available:
- Category 1: US$60,000 – for a single individual PhD-holder or a team of up to four individuals with a PhD-holder as the lead/PI.
- Category 2: US$45,000 – for a single individual PhD student close to completion of PhD or a team of up to four individuals with a PhD student as the lead/PI.
- Award period is nine months. Recipients should choose a start date August 15 – November 15, 2023.
Eligibility Criteria
- Fellowship awards are given to individuals. They can be affiliated with academic institutions or independent researchers. Early career as well as senior academics are equally welcome to apply.
- Applicants must hold, or be close to completion of, a PhD (or equivalent degree).
- There are in general no restrictions as to applicants’ place of residence or citizenship. But they cannot provide funds to those prohibited by U.S. government sanction and other rules.
- Award period is nine months. Recipients to choose a start date within August 15 – November 15, 2023.
- There are two award categories.
- Category 1: US$60,000 (for a single individual PhD-holder or a team of up to four individuals with a PhD-holder as the lead/PI). Note: For teams, the entire amount of award funds is provided to the lead person/PI only. There is no eligibility requirement for the rest of the team.
- Category 2: US$45,000 (for a single individual PhD student close to the completion of a PhD or a team of up to four individuals with a PhD student as the lead/PI). Note: For teams, the entire amount of award funds is provided to the lead person/PI only. There is no eligibility requirement for the rest of the team.
- According to U.S. government, a fellowship is defined as an amount that is paid or allowed to an individual to aid that individual in the pursuit of personal research or scholarship, and there may be further conditions imposed on fellowship recipients by the fellowship provider. Recipients of Tiny Beam Fund’s
- Burning Questions Initiative (BQI) fellowships are allowed to use the award funds for:
- travel expenses
- accessing information (e.g. databases); purchasing supplies and equipments
- obtaining research assistance
- modest living and essential personal expenses (e.g. housing, food, taxes, healthcare, child care)
- securing teaching buyout and release time to concentrate on fellowship work
Required work and main deliverables:
- The research should address and bring deeper understanding to issues raised in the “burning questions”, have practical applications, and include guidance for those interested in taking action. It is possible for recipients to do additional research that provides materials for their own academic work. The main deliverable is a “Guidance Memo”. This is a 8,000–10,000 words report written in plain language.
- Fellowship recipients are required to communicate Guidance Memos and research findings to non-academic audience. It is especially important to reach those persons, organizations, stakeholders most impacted by the issues addressed and/or interested in using the findings to tackle industrial animal agriculture in LMICs.
For more information, visit Tiny Beam Fund.