Background on the Fellowship Structure

The design of the Darrell Posey Fellowship for Ethnoecology and Traditional Resource Rights Program reflects a number of issues that were raised by Darrell Posey with some frequency during his lifetime, including:

the large number of small, grassroots groups working on resource and rights issues that have limited administrative capacity, but do some of the most effective and under-sung work;
the financial difficulties often faced by small groups without fundraising and international networking skills, and without capacity or time to satisfy involved reporting requirements;
the need to provide more than one year of funding, since very few activities are concluded in one year;
ethnobiologists, in particular those who undertake applied work primarily outside of academia, have an extremely difficult time receiving financial support for their work;
ethnobiologists within academia also often receive little financial or institutional support for their work, since ethnobiology does not fit easily within academic institutional and promotion structures.

In response to these issues, the Fellowship and Small Grants Program includes a nomination process to make it more inclusive; at least two years of support is provided to all recipients; and the Program incorporates small grants to community groups, field fellowships for applied ethnobiologists, and institutional fellowships for academics (most recently based at Oxford University in the UK). The Program also has basic and simple reporting requirements – recipients are selected because they do good work, have solid reputations, and we know that funds will be used effectively. The process continues to evolve in response to our experiences, and we welcome any suggestions or comments.

For more information contact: Natasha Duarte at isecoordinator@gmail.com