Call for Proposals: Wild Animal Initiative Challenge Grants 2024 (up to $100,000)

Wild Animal Initiative’s Challenge Grants support researchers exploring critical research questions that will unlock new avenues of wild animal welfare research and are not prioritized by other funders.

Each round of Challenge Grants calls for projects within one or more specific themes. These flagship projects should be led by experienced principal investigators and demonstrate a high degree of relevance to high priority research areas, novelty, and methodological rigor.

Grant of Wild Animal

• Grants are between $50,000 — $100,000 USD total.

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Eligibility for Wild Animal

• Challenge Grant projects must be led by an experienced principal investigator but can include financial support for students or other early-career collaborators. When submitting an expression of interest for a Challenge Grant, applicants may request to be considered for a WAI Fellowship, which offers mentorship and a supplementary stipend to postdoctoral researchers and PhD students pursuing a long-term career in wild animal welfare research. The process and parameters for 2024 fellowships will be shared with those invited to apply at the full proposal stage.
• Eligible projects include those that are standalone, or those that add a wild animal welfare component to an existing non-Wild Animal Initiative funded project to broaden its scope.
• Projects must be led by a principal investigator who is affiliated with a university or other research institution (e.g. a government agency).
• Projects must be led by or include collaborators who are residents of all countries where field work will take place. If a project is managed by an NGO, that NGO must be registered in the country where field work will take place.
• They prioritize funding for direct research costs (e.g. supplies, materials), though they do fund other expense areas (e.g. stipends, salaries, capital equipment) if they are fully justified relative to the project goals. They will not reject a proposal based solely on budget without first asking applicants to consider modifications, but applicants should limit their requests to what is reasonably needed to complete the project.

Seletion Criteria

• Scope: The approximate number of animals who could potentially benefit from the results of a project.
• Impact: The likelihood that a project will lead to an improvement in wild animal welfare now or in the future, and the magnitude of that potential improvement.
• Engagement: The extent to which a project is likely to accelerate or inspire other research or action in support of wild animal welfare.
• Neglectedness: The distinctiveness of a project’s relevance to wild animal welfare, such that it would be unlikely to attract funding from another organization.
• Feasibility: The likelihood that a project could be carried out as described and accomplish its objectives.
• Research ethics: The risk of a project causing harm to human or non-human animals through its methods.
• Cost-effectiveness: Given two projects of approximately equal overall merit in terms of the preceding criteria, they will give preference to the one with the lower budget.
• Relevance to research priorities: Projects must connect wild animal welfare to at least one of the following priority topics: welfare indicator validation, interspecific interactions, population dynamics, cause-specific mortality, landscape ecology, cascade effects, welfare interventions, juvenile welfare, invertebrate welfare, and fish welfare.

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Application

• Proposals must clearly explain how the project is relevant to wild animals’ welfare, as defined by Wild Animal Initiative.
• Proposals must clearly identify and explain the project’s relevance to one or more of the themes featured in the call.
• Projects must adhere to Wild Animal Initiative’s guidance for animals involved in research, if your project will involve any work with animals, in the field or the lab. Be aware they are less likely to select a proposed project that would cause any harm to animals. If invasive methods are to be used, welfare concerns should be elaborated in the animal methods form and the methods should be justified with evidence showing why the use of alternatives would not be possible.
• Proposals must clearly justify the study approach chosen, including identifying the resources available for the study and the expertise of team members.
• Proposals must clearly describe the amount of time required from each project team member and confirm that they are able to make that commitment.

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