Women in Climate Change Science Fellowship
This fellowship program was made possible by a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada, www.idrc.ca, and financial support from the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada (GAC), www.international.gc.ca. It is part of a broader effort by AIMS-NEI to build the intellectual capital needed to better our understanding of the causes of climate change in Africa, and to solve the myriad challenges to Africa’s development resulting from climate change.
Established in 2017, the first and second calls for applications attracted highly competitive applications and eventually, six fellowships were awarded to dynamic women scientists working in the area of climate change science and its related disciplines. By the end of 2021, 20 fellowships in total would have been awarded to outstanding women working on (i) revealing the triggers of our changing climate; (ii) mapping past, current and future climate patterns; (iii) increasing our knowledge of the impacts of these climate patterns on humanity and life on earth; (iv) providing recommendations and solutions on how best to adapt, mitigate or increase our resilience to climate change and its associated impacts, etc.
Highlights
Meet the first cohort of Women in Climate Change Science and learn about their research
Meet the second cohort of Women in Climate Change Science and learn about their research
To be eligible, applicants must be:
- female;
- in possession before the fellowship start date of a doctorate in a quantitative discipline, including but not limited to applied mathematics, climatology, physics, computational chemistry, statistical ecology, computer science, theoretical biology, and engineering;
- currently employed, on either a permanent or a temporary basis, in a non-profit work environment, including government;
- actively engaged in research, policy, and/or practice relevant to climate change modelling, mitigation, adaptation, and/or resilience among others; and
- the lead and/or senior author of at least one refereed publication on a topic relevant to climate change modelling, the causative factors of climate change, climate change mitigation, adaptation, and/or resilience etc.
To apply, please complete this online application form and submit by the 31 August 2021, 23:59 CAT with the following documents attached:
- a completed personal details form, including a detailed budget for all non-project-related activities;
- a completed project proposal form, including a detailed budget for all project-related activities;
- a curriculum vitae; and
- an electronic copy of a representative publication in climate change modelling, its causes, climate change mitigation, adaptation and/or resilience in which the applicant is the lead and/or senior author.
Supporting documents should be saved as a pdf in the format: “name of the research program_type of_document_ AIMSentity/centre_monthyear of applying_first and last name of applicant.” For instance, “MS4CR fellowship_application form_AIMS-NEI_July2021_SarahJake”.
Applicants should request that three confidential letters of support be emailed to ms4cr-fellows@nexteinstein.org, using as subject “MS4CR fellowship application support letter-first and last name of applicant” by the application deadline. Two of these letters should come from the applicant’s immediate supervisor at her home institution and the named collaborator at her proposed host institution. At least one letter should come from a referee who is qualified to assess the applicant’s experience in climate change research, practice, and/or policy. You should share with your referees a copy of the ‘Terms of Reference for Fellows’ and the ‘Instructions for Referees’ document. These can be downloaded on the website.
Incomplete applications will not be evaluated.
Applicants are advised to carefully read the following documents:
- Terms of Reference for Host Institutions and Collaborators
- Terms of Reference for Home Institutions and Supervisors
- Terms of Reference for Fellows
- Instructions for Referees
- Personal details form
- Project proposal form
Fellows will be selected by an international selection committee appointed by AIMS-NEI.
All complete applications received by the application deadline will be screened for relevance by a Fellowship Oversight Committee. The Oversight Committee will send each application to at least two reviewers for reviewing and scoring based on a defined soring sheet. The reviewers’ scores and associated comments will be forwarded to an International Selection Committee. This Selection Committee will select and interview a subset of the applicants, and then choose and recommend to AIMS-NEI about four applicants deemed most qualified to receive a WiCCS fellowship. All reviews done by the Selection Committee members and other reviewers will be based on the following criteria:
- Quality of applicant: academic qualifications; quality of publications; experience in climate change-related work; real-world impact and recognition of prior work (e.g. through awards).
- Quality of proposed project: relevance to climate change modelling, practice and policy; strength of connection to the mathematical sciences; experience of applicant in project topic; quality of project design; feasibility; suitability of proposed host institution environment and of named collaborator; quality and realism of budget projections.
- Potential impact of proposed project on scientific knowledge, practice and policy.
For more information about the selection process and the committees mentioned above, please consult the following documents:
