SMITH POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP IN CONSERVATION RESEARCH

To be eligible, individuals must have completed their doctorate within the five years preceding their award date, or by the time the award is made in 2

1. For the 2025-2026 Fellowship, applicants must have completed their doctorate after March 1, 2020 and before September 30, 2025 to be eligible. Applicants who have not yet completed their doctorate must clearly indicate on the application the date the degree is expected. The Fellowship must be administered by a U.S. based institution, but U.S. citizenship is not required. The research must have primary relevance to conservation management or policy as it is practiced in the U.S and its 5 permanently inhabited territories: Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa. The majority of the work must take place on site within these locations, including relevant local partnerships.

No Separate Application or Fee is Required to get the scholarship, it will be automatically considered, once you enrolled for the program. All materials must be submitted electronically on our online submission platform: apply.smithfellows.org. All files should be uploaded in PDF or MS Word format. Please contact Program staff if you are unable to access or submit electronic systems for this application. The required application materials are:

1. Cover letter: Applicants should provide a narrative of their interest in conservation, experience with leadership and innovation, and how the Fellowship would facilitate a unique and interdisciplinary plan for professional development and pioneering applied research. Applicants should not use cover letters to restate or extend material presented in the proposal, personal statement, and vita. Thoughtful, well-crafted cover letters improve the likelihood that competitive proposals will be identified during the initial stages of proposal evaluation.
2. Title Page to include applicant's name, contact information, project title.
3. a) Mentor team with roles/anticipated nature of support and institutional affiliations, and b) reference names with institutional affiliations.
4. Research Plan (8 page maximum): The research plan should include the following: a. abstract b. background section c. statement of objectives d. approaches and methods e. anticipated results f. research schedule g. relevance to conservation science and practice and proposed mechanism for conservation application (how will it help solve a problem(s)). This should include a well-thought-out approach to how the work will be ‘actioned’ and with which partners. h. statement on the innovative or risky nature of the proposal, including how it differs from past research (yours and others’)
5. Literature cited
6. Budget and narrative: Please provide a 2 year projected budget, and a brief narrative explaining it, for the research and travel funds ($40,000 over two years). We recognize that a number of factors may impact the proposed budget, and we can be flexible in this regard with accepted proposals. The budget should include a. travel and accommodation costs b. research supplies/equipment c. contract or other outsourced services (eg. sequencing) d. other costs (explain)
7. Applicant’s Curriculum Vitae.
8. Personal Statement: Please address the following questions (<200 words each): a. How have your life experiences uniquely positioned you to contribute to the diversity of perspectives in conservation and the goal of broadening participation in the field of conservation? b. The David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellowship Program seeks to develop future world leaders and entrepreneurs who are successful at linking conservation science and application. How do you define leadership and how do you envision yourself as a future leader and entrepreneur in the field of conservation? c. Which conservation policymaker(s) and practitioners (e.g. federal/state/local legislators or agencies, NGOs etc.) will be interested in your research and how will they use it? Please be specific based on connections and partnerships you have made or people you have spoken with.
9. Letters: a. Two (2) letters of reference addressing the merits of the candidate and the candidate’s proposal. Letters should be written by individuals familiar with the applicant's skills, experience, and research. Letters should emphasize the qualifications of the applicant, in particular any unique abilities to contribute significantly to conservation science and practice, the novelty of the approach, the quality of the science, and the potential to impact conservation practice. Each letter writer must submit an electronic copy of their letter via our online submission platform. Applicants may NOT upload these letters directly - the system will send each letter writer a link through which they will be able to upload their letter. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that reference letters are submitted by the deadline - you will not be able to submit your final proposal without having all of your reference letters filed before the deadline. Request these letters early! b. Mentor letters of commitment (2): Letters from 2 mentors expressing their commitment to supporting the Fellow including: helping with research design, connecting the Fellow and their research to practical applications, supporting the Fellow’s professional development as a conservation scientist, and helping to build research skills, collaborations, and networks. Letters should articulate the nature of the support. Fellows may be administratively and/or physically based ("sponsored") at either mentor's institution. The sponsor’s letter should verify the availability of laboratory/office space, other relevant institutional resources, and describe how the applicant’s research relates to the sponsor’s ongoing endeavors. These may be uploaded to the online submission platform directly by the applicant. These letters should include a commitment to regular meetings, attending Program site visits, and developing a mentor plan with the applicant should they be accepted. Academic and Practitioner Mentors' Abbreviated Curriculum Vitae: A 2-page version of the sponsoring scientist’s CV (similar to that required by NSF). To be clear, applicants may have more than two mentors, however, support letters are not required from more than two. In order to alleviate the burden on both applicants AND reviewers, only four letters (two reference, two mentors) are able to be uploaded to the online submission platform. If you feel strongly you would like all mentors to provide letters, it is suggested that mentors could write joint letters or a mentor could provide one of the reference letters, so long as no more than four letters total are associated with any applicant. For Finalists: Applicants who are selected as finalists will be required to provide a letter containing the following information from their proposed host institution during the final interview stage: 1) indirect costs and the benefits rate for postdoctoral researchers (the host institution is required to verify that they will waive indirect costs in excess of 5%), and 2) an equipment waiver and confirmation of compliance with the Smith Program's policy that all equipment purchased with Smith Fellowship funds remains property of the Fellow and will follow the Fellow to their next institution at the conclusion of the fellowship.

Fellows are selected according to four criteria: 1) demonstrated excellence in research, 2) potential for innovation and leadership, 3) commitment to conservation, and 4) the strength of their proposal. An ideal Smith Fellow is an innovative, practical-minded researcher with strong leadership potential. They will have excellent communication skills and a keen interest in applied research that improves conservation practice. The ideal proposal will clearly articulate concepts and objectives that are both innovative and feasible. For further details, please check: https://apply.smithfellows.org/ Other Info Smith Fellows are awarded two years of support for applied research in conservation science and closely related fields, including conservation social science. Research may include approaches such as comparative studies, synthetic analyses across sites, experimentation or observational studies, applied modeling, incorporation of social science data, or any combination. In all cases, the central questions of the inquiry must be clearly articulated. Proposed study site

1. must be identified; and an explanation and plan for how the results inform conservation practice is required. For a strong proposal, this explanation should include specifics for how the applicant will work with a broad array of partners and collaborators to ‘apply’ this work. Each applicant proposes a team of at least two mentors to work closely with them during their Fellowship including: providing an ‘institutional home’ for the Fellow, helping with research design, connecting the Fellow and their research to practical applications, supporting the Fellow’s professional development as a conservation scientist, and helping to build research skills, collaborations, and networks. At least one of the mentors should have a primary focus on conservation practice and will help connect the Fellow’s research to practical applications and provide insight into the management and policy implications of the work. The mentor team is integral to the Fellow’s and project success, and mentors are expected to be an active part of the proposed research plan and to meet with Fellows regularly to help shape and guide the work.