2018 ASA Graduate Field Research Scholarship Program
The Alliance for a Sustainable Amazon is pleased to announce a new opportunity for graduate students wishing to conduct field research in the Peruvian Amazon. About Us & the Scholarship The Alliance for a Sustainable Amazon (ASA) is a U.S.-based 501(c)3 charity that is active in Peru’s Madre de Dios department, in the country’s southeastern Amazon region. Our mission is to conserve biodiversity and other natural resources, for the benefit of all those who live in and depend upon the rain forest. We are a research-based organization, and we work towards this goal by promoting basic research that fills in major information gaps in our region. Projects managed by ASA span biological research and monitoring, as well as sustainable tropical agriculture, and are based at Finca Las Piedras, a 54 ha property located at the edge of the agricultural frontier adjacent to the Interoceanic Highway. Two scholarships will be available starting in April 2018 for graduate students who are currently enrolled, or who will be enrolled, at an accredited institution during the grant period. Research should span one of our focal areas (biological research and monitoring or sustainable tropical agriculture). Priority will be given to those projects that generate information that can be used for applied biodiversity or wildlife conservation, or sustainable economic development in the region; those with projects that will generate basic biological knowledge (e.g., abundance, distribution, taxonomy, natural history, etc.) about poorly known groups are also encouraged to apply. Scholarship Details Scholarship Duration: 3-6 months Scholarship Dates: April 2-December 15, 2018 Application Deadline: January 18, 2018 What’s Covered by the Scholarship * Full room and board at Finca Las Piedras<https://www.sustainableamazon.org/finca-las-piedras> (lodging and 3 meals per day) * Access to the field site’s forest trail network & experimental agricultural plots * Reasonable assistance by the ASA team of Resident Naturalists and interns (not full-time field assistants) What’s Not Covered * Transportation to and from the field site (including local transport, domestic & international airfare, taxes, fees, travel insurance, etc.) * Field research equipment * Full time field assistance Requirements * Enrolled (or will be) in a graduate program at an accredited college or university * Health and/or travel insurance during the entire duration of the grant period * Final research report (not peer-reviewed publication) submitted to the ASA before departure from field site * Copy of peer-reviewed research article submitted within 1 month of publication How to Apply To apply for the scholarship, please submit the following documentation: * Maximum 2-page research proposal including introduction, methods, expected results, and discussion of the relevance of the proposed research to basic knowledge or applied conservation in the Peruvian Amazon. * A current CV, including contact information for two references that can speak to your ability to conduct field research in the tropics. Please send the above materials as a single PDF file to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> by the application deadline. Late or incomplete applications will not be reviewed.
