Fellowship Program
We are not accepting applications for fellowships at this time. View our roadmap to find out when the next fellowships will open.
Wild Animal Initiative’s Fellowship Program facilitates the growth of a diverse community of scientists who intentionally integrate wild animal research and animal welfare science. Our fellowship grants are designed to assist early-career scientists by providing salary support in a positive mentoring environment, as well as training in a new discipline that will assist them in applying their existing expertise to wild animal welfare.
Funding available
We 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.
Duration
Up to 3 years
Eligibility
Fellowships are available for applicants at an early career stage (postdoctoral researchers or anyone who has received a PhD within the last five years a PhD) who are interested in pursuing a long-term career in wild animal welfare research. We particularly encourage applications from members of communities underrepresented in the sciences, including but not limited to people of color, people of the Global South, and non-binary people.
Wild Animal Initiative postdoctoral fellowships are highly competitive. A maximum of four fellows will be selected from each call for applications.
What is eligible
Projects must be led by the fellow, with support from an experienced supervisor who can support the fellow’s aspirations in the field of wild animal welfare.
The fellow must be affiliated with a university or other research institution (e.g. a government agency).
Projects must be led by or include collaborators who are residents of each country where field work will take place. If a project is managed by an NGO, that NGO must be registered in the country where field work will take place. If a component of the research is to be conducted in a country in which the fellow is not based, then the proposal must have the support of a mentor who is based in that country
What is not eligible
We do not provide funding for indirect costs or institutional overhead.
We are unable to sponsor visas, so we generally cannot fund work that would be carried out in the United States by a non-US resident.
We are unable to fund research carried out in nations subject to sanctions by the United States (e.g. Iran, North Korea, Russia) or researchers who are residents of those nations.
We generally do not fund more than one active project being led by the same Principal Investigator at the same time.
Projects that do not characterize the subjective experience (welfare) of animals or do not treat it as their objective.
Projects focused exclusively on wildlife conservation.
If you are still unsure whether your project fits within our scope, please review our FAQs.
Additional guidelines
In addition to meeting our general selection criteria, fellowship applicants must demonstrate the following in their submission:
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 Initiative's purview and will not be supported.
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 we are less likely to select a proposed project that would cause any harm to animals. If invasive methods must be used, welfare concerns should be elaborated in the animal methods form and the methods should be clearly justified with evidence for why the use of alternatives would not be possible.
Budget: The budget for salary cannot exceed $60,000 USD per year, inclusive of benefits. The budget for field work, consumables, and other research-related costs cannot exceed $25,000. A budget for postdoctoral healthcare costs of up to $5,000 can be included, if need is demonstrated. Further details on what is eligible for funding can be found in our FAQs.
Timeframe: The project 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. The fellowship project should be the fellow’s primary focus for its duration.
Mentor: Applicants must have the support of an appropriately experienced mentor in a relevant field. If you do not have a mentor already identified, please email us to register your interest in being matched with a mentor. The mentor is expected to provide the fellow with support, appropriate training opportunities, and access to research facilities as required.
Applicants are encouraged to contact Wild Animal Initiative at grants@wildanimalinitiative.org to discuss the project, mentorship, and the application process.
Selection criteria
Project selection criteria
Click the "+" in each section below for details on our general selection criteria:
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We aim to understand and improve the welfare of as many individual animals as possible. Therefore, we prefer projects that focus on more abundant species, all else being equal.
Transferability is also a crucial consideration, but requires nuanced consideration of both the focal taxa and the welfare issues being addressed by the study.
Research on an endangered species of rodent or fish could have implications for related species that are highly abundant.
Similarly, a study on a ubiquitous welfare issue, like hunger, is going to have further-reaching implications than an otherwise equivalent study on the impact of local logging operations.
Scope
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Our consideration is not limited to direct, short-term impacts.
Wildlife management decisions influenced by the results of a project may affect a vast number of animals over time.
Long-term impact is necessarily speculative, but we would like to see some plausible theory of change explaining how the results of a project could eventually translate into improvements in wild animal welfare.
When considering the magnitude of welfare improvements, we consider both severity and duration. For example, a disease that is rare but has a high mortality rate may have a similar overall welfare impact to a disease that has sublethal welfare effects but is common.
Impact
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Research projects may promote engagement by validating a new method or introducing a new concept or study design that would make it easier for others to enter the field of wild animal welfare or open up new avenues of research.
Policy implications with the potential to persuade wildlife managers/policy-makers to consider wild animal welfare may also qualify as engagement.
Engagement
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We recognize that it is challenging to get funding for almost all areas of research, especially in ecology. However, as an organization with a very specific mission to promote research into wild animal welfare, we try to reserve our limited financial resources for projects that would be unlikely to obtain funding from mainstream scientific or conservation funders (e.g. NSF, NERC) due to their unique relevance to wild animal welfare.
This means that we are less likely to select otherwise sound and exciting projects that also address conservation concerns (e.g. population viability) or that conflate welfare with more widely studied concepts, such as evolutionary fitness.
Neglectedness
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We evaluate whether the proposed methods are sufficient to answer the research questions being posed. This includes not only the study design, but also the quality of indicators being used to infer animals’ welfare.
We also consider applicants’ prior experience of applying similar methods.
Finally, we consider whether underlying assumptions of the proposed study, such as independence of certain variables, or expected effect sizes, seem plausible or have already been tested (e.g. through a pilot or previous studies).
Feasibility
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Many of the causes of wild animal suffering are currently beyond human control, but we can avoid causing unnecessary harm through research methods. This is important not only in terms of ethics, but also for scientific data quality, as animals who have been acutely stressed by invasive sampling procedures may behave differently or exhibit altered physiology.
Projects that propose using invasive methods must explain why those methods are required and non-invasive alternatives are insufficient.
To avoid perpetuating human inequality within ecological research, we also expect applicants proposing to conduct research in countries which they are not normally resident in to include high-level collaborators with roots in those countries.
Research ethics
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Limiting activities in your project that do not contribute to understanding welfare or obtaining co-funding for them can improve your likelihood of receiving funding from WAI.
If some aspects of your project are of significantly greater interest to WAI than others, we may be able to offer partial funding for those aspects. You may identify in your proposal which activities are more or less essential.
Cost-effectiveness
Fellow selection criteria
Must have completed a PhD within the last five years, or be on track to complete one within 3 months of application.
Must not have completed more than two years of full-time postdoctoral research training on the proposed project.
Must be based in a country where they are eligible to work.
Must have an interest in learning about and improving scientific understanding of wild animal welfare.
Must express values consistent with Wild Animal Initiative’s mission and values.
Must have research experience in animal welfare science, field ecology, or a related field.
Must have an interest in learning about animal welfare science, field ecology, or a related field (whichever of the above the candidate does not already have experience in).
Unless otherwise discussed, preference will be given to applicants who have or are able to secure a postdoctoral research appointment, and/or who are affiliated with an institution.
Preference will be given to applicants able to commit to working full-time on the funded research.
Mentor selection criteria
Must demonstrate a general interest in animal welfare.
Must demonstrate time available and interest to support and mentor an early career postdoctoral fellow to expand their understanding of the advisor’s discipline (animal welfare or field ecology-related) and help the fellow integrate this new-found understanding into their own research.
Must have an interest in supporting early-career scientists to forge a career in wild animal welfare research.
Must express general value-alignment (e.g. animal ethics and justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion).
Prospective mentors interested in hosting fellows and/or proposing projects who would like to register for pre-approval should complete the Fellowship Mentor form.
Mentors can be from any institution. But in the process of preparing their application, applicants should confirm with Wild Animal Initiative whether their selected mentor and institution are among those on our pre-approved list.
Application process
Before applying:
Prospective applicants should have developed a project idea that explicitly combines animal welfare and the study of wild animals, and have identified a host university or institution and mentor(s).
If applicants have a project idea but have not identified a mentor, they should contact us to share the project idea. Wild Animal Initiative will then evaluate the proposed project and suggest an appropriate host institution and mentor.
Applicants can also review our list of available projects and submit an application identifying a project of interest.
Application process:
Both the advisor (mentor) and the individual submitting the application (fellow) must be involved in the application process.
Applicant submits the following materials through the Fellowship Expression of Interest form:
Your CV
A brief explanation of your career plans.
A brief statement of your interest in wild animal welfare.
A 1-2 page concept note outlining the details of your proposed project explaining how it explicitly combines animal welfare and the study of wild animals, and including expected budget and timeframe.
A brief explanation of how you and your key collaborators are qualified for the proposed project.
A letter of support from your proposed advisor and their CV, uploaded as one file. In the letter, your proposed mentor should address the mentor selection criteria outlined above.
EOI is reviewed for eligibility and relevance by the Wild Animal Initiative Grants Team.
If the EOI is shortlisted, the applicant is invited to develop a full proposal and to attend an interview.
The applicant, the project, and the proposed host university and mentor are evaluated for suitability.
The interview is reviewed by Wild Animal Initiative.
The full proposal is externally reviewed by project-relevant experts.
The proposal is reviewed by specialists in animal care and ethics.
The proposal is reviewed by Wild Animal Initiative technical experts.
The fellow may be asked to provide clarification or make modifications in response to reviewer feedback.
The review team discusses shortlisted proposals and applicants and makes final selection of the most promising candidates.
Mentors are invited to a 30-minute interview to confirm their support and suitability.
Final decisions are shared with applicants and announced on our website.
What to expect as a fellow
In addition to the following, please review the fellowship commitment guidelines.
Fellow and mentor(s) sign a communications agreement.
Fellow provides Wild Animal Initiative with a final report within three months of the project’s completion date. Fellow receives funding for the first year of the project, and conditional funding for additional years pending 1st year project completion.
Fellow joins the Wild Animal Initiative Fellowship Community.
Fellow attends academic events and engages with other members of the fellowship community.
Fellow interacts with and supports other fellows.
Fellow provides first-year project report.
Wild Animal Initiative evaluates and if applicable approves additional years of funding for the project.
If necessary, fellow obtains permission from Wild Animal Initiative for any major discretional changes to the project (e.g. replacing key activities or increasing the number of animals sampled).
Fellow provides Wild Animal Initiative with annual reports on the progress of the project, including publications, presentations, and any unforeseen changes.
Fellow provides Wild Animal Initiative with a final report within three months of the project’s completion date.
Open or upcoming fellowship opportunities
Fellowship applications for 2023 fellowships are now closed. We currently do not have any open fellowship opportunities.
If you would like to be notified when the call opens, subscribe to our general newsletter. Or you can apply to join our Research Community, where you’ll receive updates through our listserv.
If you are interested in applying to our fellowship program in the future, you are welcome to submit an expression of interest at any time. Your submission will be reviewed during our next fellowship application period.
Please be sure to review the Eligibility Criteria above and the Selection Criteria outlined below in preparing your proposal.
We encourage all applicants to contact us to discuss their interest in applying at any stage of the process.