Opportunities

With funding from the government of Japan, the United Nations University Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP) makes grants for research capacity building in agriculture. The program is "On the Job Research Capacity Building for Sustainable Agriculture in Developing Countries" (OJCB). Grants are proposed and implemented by leading scientists (host scientists) who are engaged in research on sustainable agriculture (including forestry and fisheries) in developing countries, under the responsibility of a host institution. The current priority is research related to climate change mitigation. The host scientists train and supervise one or more younger scientists for one or several months. The grant amount varies with the number of trainees per project. The application deadline is 10 August 2013.

In collaboration with several sponsors, the Inter-American Development Bank invites individuals and institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean to the fourth cycle of the IDEAS Energy Innovation Contest. The competition supports innovative projects that promote renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy access in rural areas of the Bank's member countries.  Requests for funding must not be greater than US$100 thousand per project.  Proposals (English, Spanish, Portuguese, or French) should be submitted no later than 15 August 2013. Details are found here.

The CEPF invites applications in support of its Strategic Direction 2 for conservation of the Mediterranean Basin Biodiversity Hotspot. CEPF offers small grants (less than US$20 thousand) and large grants (up to US$200 thousand) for projects in Albania, Lebanon, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Morocco. Eligibility extends to NGOs, community groups, universities, private enterprises, and individuals. The deadline for letters of inquiry is 15 July 2013.

The Snow Leopard Network makes grants for research and field projects to protect the snow leopard in its range states of East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, and Russia. The program is open to scientists and educators in the snow leopard range countries; international professionals working closely with (or hosted by) range-country counterparts; and graduate students of any nationality whose research focuses on the survival of snow leopards.  The application deadline for pre-proposals is 25 July 2013. 

The government of Japan offers 20 post-graduate fellowships per year to candidates from developing countries, especially the least-developed countries, who undertake research on specified topics. They include environment -- with emphasis on water sciences, water issues, climate change, and engineering capacity building. Priority is for women candidates, candidates from least-developed countries, and African researchers. Support is up to US$10 thousand. The deadline for applications is 30 August 2013.

The EC's Erasmus Mundus includes the program Forest and Nature for Society (FONASO), jointly administered by seven European universities. FONASO annually funds 8 -10 fellowships in its doctoral program for candidates worldwide. Research in FONASO includes several projects on themes relevant in the developing world, e.g., tropical forest ecology, paying for ecosystem services, assessing the contribution of forests to poverty alleviation, increasing the value chains of non-timber forest products, and several others. The application deadline is 01 November 2013. 

The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) is look for an Intern in Digital Communications. CIFOR is a member of the CGIAR Consortium. Our headquarters are in Bogor, Indonesia, with offices in Asia, Africa and South America. 

We are looking for an enthusiastic and proactive individual to support our digital communications work. This is a fantastic opportunity for the right person to gain experience in a busy and dynamic communications department in a highly respected global research institution.

The ASO Fellowship is now open for applications until 15 July, 2013. The fellowship offers an amount up to US$ 10,000 to fund research in one of the following priority topics:

The research outputs of the award winner's research will contribute to Bioversity International’s Forest Genetic Resources programme as well as the CGIAR Research Programme on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry. 

Read about the History of the Abdou-Salam Ouédraogo Fellowship

The Canadian International Development Agency  (CIDA) made a contribution to the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) to implement a 5-year project, which aims to increase food security and improve the local livelihoods of rice producers and entrepreneurs in West and Eastern Africa by enhancing harvest and post-harvest rice processing technologies, increasing the quality and marketability of local rice and rice-based products.

As part of its human capacity building component, the project is offering one MSc scholarship tenable at the McGill University, Canada from 2013.

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and its partners AfricaRice and the International Center for Agricultural Research for the Dry Areas (ICARDA) have received a grant of about US$ 64 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to finance the project “Support to Agricultural Research for development of Strategic Crops in Africa (SARD-SC)”. The strategic crops within the context of the project are cassava, maize, rice and wheat. The overall objective of SARD-SC is to enhance food and nutrition and contribute to poverty reduction in AfDB’s low-income member Countries (RMCs). Its specific objective is to enhance the productivity and income of four CAADP’s priority value chains (cassava, maize, rice and wheat) on a sustainable basis.

Under this project, AfDB has made a contribution to AfricaRice to implement a 5-year project, which aims to upgrade the rice value chain in Africa through the (i) generation of agricultural technologies and innovations; (ii) sustainable dissemination and adoption of agricultural technologies and innovations across the value chain; and (iii) sustainable capacity strengthening of project stakeholders.

The key tools/skills the student will therefore develop and use include: interviews and survey techniques; climate data collation and analysis; use of predictive crop suitability models (e.g. Maxent, Crop physiological models) at various scales, plot level agronomic experimental techniques.

The key tools/skills the student will therefore develop and use include: interviews and survey techniques; climate data collation and analysis; use of predictive crop suitability models (e.g. Maxent, Cocoa physiological models) at various scales, plot level agronomic experimental techniques.

The DHI Group (Denmark), in collaboration with Denmark's International Development Agency (Danida), supports women from developing countries to advance their career opportunities in the field of water resources. The Fund invites applications for a two-week training and management internship in Denmark, scheduled for September 2013. The Fund identifies eligible countries in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The deadline for applications is 21 June 2013.