Deadline: 2-Dec-22

Wild Animal Initiative’s 2022 Call for Large Grants is a restricted call focused on two very specific themes with related tracks that seek to address key unanswered questions important for understanding wild animal welfare.

Themes

• Theme 1: Density-Dependent Welfare: For the Density-Dependent Welfare Theme of their Large Grants Program, They  are seeking proposals that address one of the four tracks described.
  • Track 1: Resource availability and density-dependent welfare
    • Proposals in this track should describe a project that models or experimentally assesses the interactions between resource availability, population size/density, and welfare in a particular ecosystem.
    • In particular, projects should estimate welfare for at least three population densities, matching these qualitative descriptions:
    • A high-density case, in which the population is at or its carrying capacity based on available resources.
    • A low-density case, in which the population size is sufficient to meet individuals’ social needs, but there is little or no resource scarcity.
    • An intermediate-density case, in which the population size is between the two.
  • Track 2: Density-dependent mortality
    • Proposals meeting the criteria for this track will explore welfare indirectly: by estimating a density-dependent mortality rate.
  • Track 3: Population regulation interventions
    • Proposals in this track should seek to better understand density-dependent welfare impacts of population control or population regulation methods. Preference will be given to studies that can provide empirically parameterized models or can evaluate modeled outputs against real-world datasets.
  • Track 4: Avoiding the carrying capacity paradox
    • Proposals in this track should model, analyze, or empirically test whether options exist for avoiding the fact that attempts to reduce population density will generally be thwarted as new consumers emerge to exploit the newly available resources.
• Theme 2: System Dynamics & Network Effects: For the System Dynamics and Network Effects Theme of their Large Grants Program, they are seeking proposals that address one of the three tracks described. Recognizing the difficulty of the problem described, these tracks focus on different elements of the overarching problem, including the development of technical tools
  • Track 1: Modeling community welfare
    • Studies should seek to develop a theoretical or data-driven model for estimating community welfare. Community welfare estimates that include welfare scoring should include at least the following three measures:
    • The total welfare, defined as the sum of the welfare scores of each individual.
    • The average welfare, defined as the average welfare scores across each individual.
    • The changes in these welfare metrics over time.
  • Track 2: Empirically modeling network effects on wild animal welfare
    • Studies in this track should seek to model or test the network effects of community interactions on the welfare of members of the community. The proposed project should be applied in a well-studied system in which sufficient data and information is available to accurately parameterize and model the network effects.
  • Track 3: Network effects of interventions designed to improve wild animal welfare
    • Studies in this track should seek to model or test the network effects of specific interventions. Intervention-focused studies may connect to a specific past, present, or potential management activity, or examine theoretical impacts of a broad class of activities (such as disease control, population control, fertility control, resource provisioning, or rehabilitation).

Funding Information

• Up to US $200,000.

What they fund

• They will generally fund whatever is required for the project to be completed. However, they prioritize funding for direct research costs such as for supplies, materials, and travel. Funding for other expense areas (such as stipends, salaries, or durable goods) should be fully justified relative to the project goals.

Eligibility Criteria

• This call is open to anyone, but they are especially interested in supporting postdocs and PhD students pursuing a Long-term research career in the field of wild animal welfare, and researchers who have not previously included Welfare considerations in their work. They particularly encourage applications from communities underrepresented in The sciences, including but not limited to people of color, self-identified women, and non-binary individuals.
• They are unable to fund work that will be carried out in the United States by a non-US resident. They are also not able to Fund researchers resident in nations subject to sanctions by the United States (e.g., Iran, North Korea, Russia). However, outside of these specific limitations, they welcome proposals for research by researchers from around the world. If you are not sure whether your project would be relevant to understanding wild animal welfare, or if you are not sure if you are eligible to apply, please feel free to contact us to discuss your idea and eligibility.

What they do not fund

• Wild Animal Initiative does not provide funding for indirect costs or institutional overhead.

For more information, visit https://www.wildanimalinitiative.org/call-for-proposals-oct-2022