National Geographic Society: Early Career Grant
Deadline: 10/21/2020
Amount: $10,000 max
Description:
The grant program is open to applicants such as engineers, storytellers, conservationists, educators, and researchers to support transformative, innovative projects. Focus areas include education, conservation, research, technology, and storytelling. Applicants should have less than five years of professional experience in the field of their project focus.
Early Career Grants are designed to offer less experienced individuals an opportunity to lead a project.
Projects should align with one of the funding source’s three focus areas:
  1. Wildlife: Wildlife includes species-focused projects and the local evolutionary and ecological processes that sustain them. Although extinction is a natural part of evolution, the current accelerated loss of species means that novel approaches and solutions are needed that support biological diversity and abundance. This area of focus supports projects that seek to discover and identify species and ecosystems and to mitigate threats to Earth’s life forms. Projects will improve understanding of biological diversity, including behavior, life history, evolution, ecology, and habitat requirements.
  2. Human Journey: Human Journey focuses on learning more about who humans are and what the future will be on this planet. It supports projects in a range of fields that are helping people understand the origins and development of the species; how people modified and adapted to diverse landscapes across the globe; the evolution of cultures and societies; and the current status of and trends in cultural, linguistic, and genetic diversity. Recognizing that human society is currently out of balance with the natural world, the Funding Source seeks projects that propose solutions to mitigate this imbalance.
  3. Changing Planet: Changing Planet grants focus on Earth’s dynamic terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems. These are the foundations of life on the planet, yet are increasingly threatened by exploitation, mismanagement, and climate change. Projects are sought that illuminate these issues to better inform decision making and to develop more effective models for conservation and protected area management at large scales. This area of focus seeks to reduce negative human impacts on ecosystems and Earth processes by increasing knowledge, inspiring action, and creating solutions with direct, quantifiable, and scalable methods for conserving landscapes or seascapes.