Deadline: 18 October 2023
The Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) and Marine and Coastal Operations for Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean (MarCOSIO), are offering the Marine Research Grant (MARG I) and the GMES and Africa MarCOSIO Students Grants to early career researchers, MSc and PhD students.
- Marine Research Grant (MARG I)
- The MARG I Grant aims to provide opportunities for early-career researchers, such as MSc and PhD candidates, to conduct well defined research projects in their home countries/institutions. The research projects can be on any topic related to marine and coastal ecosystems management, from across the research spectrum of lab, translation, implementation and policy, and should take up to one year.
- Projects that are aligned with the strategic directions identified by the WIOMSA Strategic objective (2021-2025) and the nine Priority Future decade Actions (Ocean Decade Africa Roadmap) are encouraged. The MARG I Grant will also include special funding for Seagrass research projects that promote and strengthen the contributions of Seagrass to socio-ecological resilience and blue economy development in the WIO region.
- GMES and Africa MarCOSIO Students Grant
- The GMES and Africa MarCOSIO grant aims to provide competitive funding for MSc and PhD research in relevant fields. The goal is to contribute to training and capacity building using Earth observation (EO) data and technologies in South and East African marine and coastal domains. Projects must use Earth observation tools and develop satellite services and products relevant to the marine and coastal environment, as well as inland lakes. Students with topics such as remote sensing, oceanography, climatology, geography, hydrology, hydrogeology, environmental risk management, geoinformatics, computer science, artificial intelligence, or other related fields are encouraged to apply.
Award and Eligibility Criteria
- MARG I is only open to young and upcoming scientists from the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region countries (Comoros, France (Reunion), Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, and the Republic of South Africa).
- The award amount for MARG I will be up to a maximum of US$ 6000, and the proposed duration for which support is requested must not exceed 12 months.
- The following countries in Southern and Eastern Africa are eligible for the GMES and MarCOSIO student grant: (Angola, Namibia, Comoros, France (Reunion), Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania and the Republic of South Africa). Masters and doctoral students interested in Earth Observation (EO) research can apply for the MarCOSIO grant (up to US$ 2400).
- MARG I applicants from South Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Kenya studying Earth Observation (EO) in MSc and PhD programs can apply for the MarCOSIO student grants for subsistence in addition to the MARG I.
- Women researchers and scientists from WIO countries are encouraged to apply, as are those whose working language is not English.
Publication of Research Results
- In addition to submitting a final report, MARG I grantees must make their research findings easily accessible by:
- Publishing the results of their research in an international or regional peer-reviewed journal, and
- Submitting to the Secretariat during their research projects short summaries (one to two pages) of their preliminary results or lessons learned for publication in the WIOMSA Newsbriefs, the WIOMSA website, and social media.
For more information, visit WIOMSA.
