Deadline: 1-Jan-23
Wild Animal Initiative is inviting early-career scientists to apply to join the fellowship program.
Fellowships are offered to individuals to conduct wild animal welfare research that is explicitly focused on combining animal welfare and the study of wild animals.
Wild animal welfare is an inherently interdisciplinary field of inquiry. Unfortunately, many wildlife scientists are not exposed to advances in the welfare sciences, and vice versa.
They’ve heard from early career researchers working in both domains that they wish they had more opportunities to learn about the other — for example, animal welfare scientists who feel their training did not provide them grounding in fieldwork, or ecologists who don’t know how welfare can be assessed or measured. We’re excited to provide a new fellowship program that addresses this gap.
Benefits
- They offer a stipend of up to $60,000 USD per year for salary and living expenses. Eligible candidates can request an additional allowance of up to $25,000 USD per year for field work, consumables and other research related costs.
- Timeframe: The project submitted should be framed as a 1, 2 or 3-year project with clearly identified achievements for year 1 and justification for years 2 and 3, as appropriate.
- Duration: Maximum fellowship/project duration is three years.
Eligibility Criteria
- Wild Animal Initiative postdoctoral fellowships are highly competitive. A maximum of six fellows will be selected for this call.
- This call is open to applicants at an early-career stage (postdoctoral researchers or anyone within 5 years of receiving a PhD), interested in pursuing a long-term research career in wild animal welfare. They particularly encourage applications from communities underrepresented in the sciences, including but not limited to people of color, people of the global south, self-identified women, and non-binary individuals.
- Mission Alignment: Projects must advance the science of wild animal welfare. Projects exclusively focused on farmed animal welfare, domestic welfare, or wildlife conservation or management do not fall within Wild Animal Initiaive’s mission and will not be supported.
- Location: They welcome proposals from researchers around the world, with the following exceptions:
- They are unable to fund work that will be carried out in the United States by a non-US resident.
- They are not able to fund researchers resident in nations subject to sanctions by the United States (e.g., Iran, North Korea, Russia).
- Animal Use and Handling Policy: Projects must adhere to Wild Animal Initiative’s guidance for animals involved in research. If your project will involve any work with animals, in the field or the lab, please be aware they are less likely to select a proposed project that would cause harm to animals. If invasive methods are to be used, welfare concerns should be elaborated in the proposal and methods justified with evidence showing why the use of alternatives would not be possible.
- Budget: The budget for salary cannot exceed $60,000 per year, inclusive of benefits and indirect costs (if charged by your institution). The budget for consumables cannot exceed $25,000, inclusive of indirect costs (if charged by your institution). A budget for postdoctoral healthcare costs of up to $5,000 should be included, if need is demonstrated.
- Mentor: Applicants must have the support of an appropriately experienced mentor in the applicant’s field.
For more information, visit Wild Animal Initiative.