Call for Proposals: Student Research Grant (Nepal)

This call is a part of a comprehensive project which intends to secure habitat and wetlands used by rhinos in Chitwan National Park.

The main objective of the ALIGN Project Student Research Grant is to support the research work of master’s degree students from environment science, forestry, wildlife, biodiversity conservation and natural resource management disciplines currently in the research development and/or data collection phases of their studies in Nepal. WWF Nepal under the USAID funded ALIGN Project seeks well-designed research proposals that are relevant and will contribute to the work of the project as well as build the capacity of young student researchers.

Asia’s Linear Infrastructure safeguarding Nature (ALIGN) is a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded regional project being implemented by WWF and the Center for Large Landscape Conservation to enhance the development and implementation of effective, high-quality Natural Resources safeguard measures to avoid, lessen and/or mitigate adverse impact from linear infrastructure development on people and natural resources. Natural Resources safeguards are the safeguards that are implemented to protect natural resources and ecosystem resilience from the harm that may arise in the development of linear infrastructure projects.

Broad Themes of Interest

• Research topics must fall under one of the following themes and the applicants should clearly select only one of the relevant topics and mention it in their proposal:
  • Positive and adverse impacts from linear infrastructure development on selected biodiversity hot spots (forest, wetland, wildlife species, water sources, etc.) and communities, and approaches to mitigate adverse impacts and enhance positive impacts.
  • Opportunities and challenges for the implementation of climate resilience and natural resource safeguard policies, standards, and instruments in Nepal.
  • Complementarity and gaps between international and national safeguard standards and possible ways to harmonize them.
  • Assessing implementation effectiveness of existing wildlife friendly infrastructure development policies.
  • Effectiveness of existing infrastructures such as underpasses for wildlife crossings.
  • Research and studies on capacity of government agencies, national and international financial institutions, private companies (consulting and contractors), academia, training institutions and civil society organizations to contribute to better management of natural resources by implementing high-quality natural resource safeguards for infrastructure development. Furthermore, the research endeavors to promote and facilitate the adoption of sustainable infrastructure development practices and the utilization of green financing options.
  • Multistakeholder collaboration and coordination for promotion of Natural Resource safeguards in LI development.
  • GESI issues in different phases of infrastructure development cycle and approaches to address them.
  • Existing GESI policies and practices in infrastructure development.

Funding Information

• The maximum grant amount of the Student Research Grant will be up to NPR 100,000. The applicant should include a recommendation letter from their college/institution along with the research proposal. The research grant will not support salaries, research assistant cost and overhead costs. If funds are being sought from the ALIGN project for partial support, then the proposal budget should clearly state this. Co-funding will not have implications on decision making.
• Timeline: The grant programs will support students in conducting research for their thesis work. The period of implementation of the research will be a maximum of one year. Within this period the entire research activity should be completed, and final reports should be submitted to the funding organization.

Geographic Area

• The preferred geographic areas for field research encompass diverse regions throughout Nepal including protected areas, buffer zones, biological corridors, forests, watersheds, and water regimes having interface with existing, ongoing, and planned linear infrastructure (roads, railways, transmission lines, irrigation canals).

Eligibility Criteria

• To qualify for the Student Research Grant, applicants must be Nepalese citizens enrolled in master’s programs for environment science, forestry, wildlife, biodiversity conservation and natural resource management disciplines at universities or colleges in Nepal and having research as a requirement for partial fulfillment of their academic degrees. In addition to demonstrating a genuine financial need, applicants should provide the details of any other funding sources they have applied or secured for their research. Fifty percent of the research grants (in numbers) will be awarded to deserving female candidates.

For more information, visit World Wide Fund for Nature.