Society for Conservation Biology

The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is seeking nominations for a pilot fellowship program. The program will benefit individuals who wish to gain experience developing regional and sub-regional assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services in Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, or the thematic assessment on land degradation and restoration.

SCB is an accredited "Observer" registered to IPBES and we can submit nominations for the fellowship program. We think that this program is a great opportunity for SCB members, particularly those from developing countries, to get invoved. If you would like to be nominated for the fellowship program by SCB, please indicate on Step B of the application form the Society for Conservation Biology as your nominating organization. Insert Bege Jonsson as the full name of the nominator and insert his title with SCB (Chair of IPBES Committee) in the “Position of contact person” field. Use Bege’s email address (Bengt-Gunnar.Jonsson (at) miun.se) in the email field of Step B and use SCB’s phone number (202.234.4133) in the phone number field. After you complete the full application, please email Bege to alert him that you’ve selected SCB as your nominating organization. Nominations are particularly welcome from colleagues from SCB’s Africa, Asia, and LACA regions, and from eastern Europe.

Selected fellows will have an opportunity to be contributing authors on the topic of their assessment. In addition, fellows will attend author meetings and receive training to understand the IPBES assessment processes. Fellows from developing countries and countries with transitioning economies will receive support to attend these meetings.

Nominating organizations and institutions should consider nominees from a broad range of backgrounds, including natural and social scientific disciplines with knowledge of indigenous and local systems, as well as policy and technical experts and practitioners. 

The nomination process will follow these steps:

1. Nominees will be invited to fill out an application form and attach their curricula vitae through the dedicated web portal. 
2. The application form will automatically be sent to the candidate’s organization/institution (the nominator) indicated by the nominee with an email providing a link to a nomination and consent form. The nomination and consent form invites the nominators to approve and submit their nominations as well as approve the time commitment required from the candidate.
3. The nominator and nominee will receive an acknowledgement message once the nomination and consent form confirming the nomination is submitted.

Interested candidates (nominees) are requested to fill out their application form no later than May 31, 2015. Nominators (organizations/institutions) should submit nominations by June 5, 2015 at the latest. Earlier nominations are strongly encouraged.

All candidates (nominees) should ensure that they:

• Are available on the indicated dates to participate in the relevant meetings 
• Have discussed the nomination and nomination procedure with their organization/institution before applying