Award Process

The recipients of the ISE Darrell Posey Fellowship for Ethnoecology and Traditional Resource Rights Small Grants Awards and the Field Fellowship (2009 – 2011) have been selected.

A Call for Nominations and Applications will be made once funding for these programs has been secured, hopefully in Spring 2011.

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.

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Background about the application/nomination process

In the past, only the Institutional Fellowship was awarded through a direct application process; the Small Grants and Field Fellowships were by nomination only. This was intended to make the process more inclusive because many groups and individuals undertaking grassroots work on resource rights and management and applied ethnobiological research are not experienced fundraisers and do not have large international networks. Nominators were drawn from a wide range of Indigenous peoples’, conservation, and other non-profit and civil society organizations, as well as research institutions, and the ISE Board, past and present.

However, so many individuals have asked to apply directly for the Small Grants and Field Fellowships that we decided to accept both nominations and direct applications. In order to make the program as accessible as possible, to as wide a range of groups and individuals as possible, letters of support/recommendation will continue to be weighed more heavily than the style or polish of a proposal, although proposals and nominations will primarily be evaluated on the strength of the work undertaken by prospective recipients.

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Criteria for Evaluating Nominations and Proposals

Small grants

  • Grants are provided to local community and indigenous peoples’ groups, and projects and individuals working with them. Support will not be provided to large projects or organizations with access to significant funding from other sources. Clear need, as well as the impact of the small grant, are central elements of the selection process.
  • Funds can be used to support infrastructure, staff time, and other ad hoc needs, and to address pressing resource management, traditional resource rights, social justice, and health concerns as they arise.

Field Fellows

  • Field Fellowships are awarded to individuals working on applied ethnobiology or resource management issues within their own or others’ communities;
  • Individuals may or may not be undertaking academic research. The main objective is to address in a practical and applied manner pressing resource management, traditional resource rights, health and social justice issues identified by local groups;
  • Funds can be applied to the costs of field and project work, or to cover an individual’s time; the fellowship is intended to support well-respected individuals undertaking excellent work, without attaching many strings or creating bureaucratic demands on their time;
  • A solid track record is necessary, but priority will be given to individuals undertaking their work outside of traditional financial and institutional support structures, and therefore in more significant need of support. Individuals working on these issues often have limited or sporadic support for their work, and there are very few formal positions in the field of applied ethnobiology;
  • The Fellowship will seek to support members of local communities and indigenous peoples, and individuals from the countries where work will take place. But the emphasis is on the quality of the work, and its ability to address the needs of local groups and the Fellowship objectives, so Fellows may be from regions outside of the project area as well.

Institution-based Fellows

  • Academic achievement and qualifications (PhD) are required, in order to allow this individual to participate fully in the university community and help build the field of ethnoecology within academia.
  • The fellow can use the Fellowship as part of a sabbatical year at Oxford University, with the second year involving close ties and some time in Oxford, even if the individual is then based elsewhere. Individuals must be available to spend at least one year at Oxford, and at least a few months of the second year, while also maintaining ties to the University in the other months. Ideally, however, an individual would spend the full two years at Oxford.
  • Funds can be applied to time and costs of writing up research, as well as field research budgets.

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For more information contact the ISE Coordinator.

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