W.A.O.S Research grants

Conditions for W.A.O.S. Research Grants are given below, although these may be changed by Council at any time. For the purposes of these awards, West Africa is defined as comprising the following: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Cabinda District of Angola, Chad, Congo, Dem. Rep. of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé e Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Western Sahara.

1. Not more than £1000 will be disbursed from the fund in any one calendar year and no single grant will exceed £500. Grants may be made as a single sum or in instalments as Council deems fit.

2. Applications will only be considered from students at West African universities, qualified West African scientists and West African amateur ornithologists; preference will be given to students, and especially to postgraduate degree research.

3. The subject of the research must be primarily ornithological and the research must take place within West Africa.

4. Applications may be submitted at any time, to the Secretary to Council, Dr Joost Brouwer, Brouwer Envir. & Agric. Consultancy, Wildekamp 32, 6721 JD Bennekom, the Netherlands.; e-mail : brouwereac@orange.nl.

5. Applications must be submitted by email or in duplicate, in either English or French, and must include the following sections, of which sections a-d combined should not exceed four typed A4 pages:

a. aim of the research;
b. scientific justification for the research;
c. relevant background of related studies;
d. detailed account of methods to be employed; location and biotope of study site(s); timing and duration of study;
e. detailed list of equipment and projected expenditure, indicating precisely for which items funding is requested from W.A.O.S.;
f. statement of funding which may already have been promised or granted by other bodies;
g. statement of other funding bodies to which application has been made;
h. statement that any permits required for the research (e.g. ringing licences, permits to work within the proposed study area etc.) have been acquired or applied for (note that grants will not be disbursed until proof is supplied that such permits have been acquired);
i. full curricula vitae of all participating investigators, including evidence of nationality and list of previous scientific publications (selected reprints may be sent as supporting documents);
j. degree for which the research may be registered and institution at which it will be carried out;
k. name, address and qualifications of supervisor(s); preferably include supporting letters from supervisor(s); for professionals, similar details should be provided from Head of Department; for amateurs, reference of competence from an established ornithologist or professional scientist;
l. names and addresses of two additional academic referees (other than supervisors).

It must be emphasised that applications cannot be considered unless all the above material is supplied.

6. Applicants must give an undertaking to provide brief (c. one page) reports at six-monthly intervals from the date the award is made. Grant recipients must also provide a final report on completion of the project or of the part of it for which W.A.O.S. funding was made, in a form suitable for publication in Malimbus. Applicants will be encouraged to submit their full research results for publication in Malimbus and editorial assistance may be made available to grant recipients to this end.

7. Applications will be considered by Council and may be sent for scientific comment to any other authority it considers appropriate. Council's decision regarding which projects to award and the amount of any grant to be made is final.