Deadline: 22 April 2020
Applications are now open for the National Geographic Society’s Early Career Grants which are designed to offer less experienced individuals an opportunity to lead a project.
Focus Area
National Geographic Society–funded projects should be bold, innovative, and transformative. All proposed projects must be novel and exploratory and align to their mission and focus areas:
- Changing Planet grants focus on their Earth’s dynamic terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems. These are the foundations of life on the planet, yet are increasingly threatened by exploitation, mismanagement, and climate change.
- Human Journey focuses on learning more about who they are and what their future will be on this planet. It supports projects in a range of fields that are helping us understand the origins and development of their species.
- Wildlife includes species-focused projects and the local evolutionary and ecological processes that sustain them.This area of focus supports projects that seek to discover and identify species and ecosystems and to mitigate threats to Earth’s life forms.
Strategies
- Conservation: It aim to achieve quantifiable outcomes as a result of scientifically informed actions. There must be a demonstrated need and urgency for conservation, as well as a clear method to evaluate the success or failure of the project.
- Education: It aim to help educators teach people about the world and how it works, empowering them to make it a better place. Projects may introduce innovative instructional strategies for students of any age and in any location.
- Research: It aim to support high-quality scientific projects that aim to answer clear questions with measurable outcomes that advance a particular field of knowledge. Established projects should be driven by testable hypotheses.
- Storytelling: It aim to support projects that demonstrate the power of science and exploration to change the world. Applicants should show a record of successful media projects, and must submit a portfolio. Projects may stand alone or be distinct components of larger efforts.
- Technology: It aim to support the development of new technologies and methods or the innovative application of existing technologies that can improve their ability to explore, protect, and tell the story of their world and its inhabitants.
Funding Information
Projects are typically funded for US $5,000 and cannot exceed US $10,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- There is no maximum age limit for Early Career Grant applicants. However, applicants must be at least 18 years old at the time of application submission.
- Applicants are not required to have an advanced degree. Anyone with more than five years of professional experience in the field of their project focus does not qualify for an Early Career Grant and should apply for an Exploration Grant instead.
- The society encourage applications from around the world. If applicant are planning to work outside of their home country or community, applicant must include the name and contact information for at least one local collaborator as a project team member in the application.
- They do not usually consider applications that support strictly laboratory or collections work.
- Grants are awarded on the basis of merit and exist independent of the Society’s other divisions.
- If applicant have previously received an Early Career Grant or a Young Explorers Grant from National Geographic, applicants may submit a new proposal after they have closed their previous grant record.
- The applicants must also submit a two-minute video that will be used to help evaluate the proposal.
How to Apply
- All applications must be submitted online via given website.
- All application materials must be in English.
For more information, please visit https://www.nationalgeographic.org/funding-opportunities/grants/what-we-fund/