Comnap - fellowships

Announcement of Opportunity

SCAR Fellowship Scheme / COMNAP Fellowship Scheme 2014-2015

As a result of the SCAR/COMNAP Action Group formed in 2010, SCAR and COMNAP are working together to attract talented researchers, engineers and other professionals to strengthen international capacity and cooperation.

Applications are now open.

The COMNAP Antarctic Research Fellowship:

The COMNAP Antarctic Research Fellowship was offered for the first time in 2011. COMNAP is the international independent organisation of National Antarctic Programs. Formed in 1988, COMNAP has as its goal to develop and promote best practice in managing the support of scientific research in Antarctica.

The COMNAP Antarctic Research Fellowship is similar to the SCAR Fellowship Programme in that, it is designed to encourage the active involvement of early career Antarctic researchers and to strengthen international capacity and cooperation in the spirit of the Antarctic Treaty. Both Fellowship Programmes allow the selected Fellow to become acquainted with recent advances in research and/or to develop long-term research linkages and international partnerships.

However, there are two primary differences between the SCAR and COMNAP Fellowship Programmes. First, the COMNAP Fellowship Programme is intended to allow researchers from a COMNAP Member National Antarctic Program country to undertake short-term visits to major international laboratories, field facilities, and/or home institutions in or operated by other COMNAP Member National Antarctic Programs (for a list of members, please visit the "Our Members" page of the COMNAP website).

Secondly, the proposed research proposal should contribute to the objectives of the home or host National Antarctic Program's research objectives. This therefore, may be broader than the Scientific Research Programmes endorsed by SCAR (Postgraduates/PhDs in, for example, Engineering, Social Sciences, Humanities, Education, Communication and Outreach, and Medicine, etc would be welcome to apply.)

The award will be up to US$15,000, providing, as needed, economy-class round trip travel and a modest subsistence allowance for the fellowship period. The Fellow's home institute will bear all expenses incurred in his or her own nation (domestic travel, visa costs, etc.), and the host institute will waive any fees that they might normally charge. One or two COMNAP Fellowships will be awarded in total, depending on the quality of the applications and the budget available.

The COMNAP Antarctic Research Fellowship Recipients

The following were awarded COMNAP Fellowships. Their reports are also available below.

2011-2012 Amelia Marks "Characterisation of bidirectional reflectance of Antarctic surface.pdf"
Royal Hollaway UK to ENEA/PNRA Italy

2012-2013 Ursula Rack "Reconstructing historic Antarctic climate data.pdf"
Canterbury University NZ to Scott Polar Research Institute UK

2012-2013 Jenson George (Awarded a joint SCAR/COMNAP Fellowship) "Influence of small scale mixing on the primary productivity and water mass formation in the Southern Ocean.pdf"
NCAOR India to GEOMAR Germany

2013-2014 Charlotte Havermans "The impact of environmental changes on a key component of pelagic food webs in the Southern Ocean: the amphipod Themisto gaudichaudii (Crustacea: Hyperiidea)", Royal Belgium Institute of Natural Sciences Belgium to Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) Germany

2013-2014 Luis Rodriguez (Awarded a joint SCAR/COMNAP Fellowship) "Niche modelling as a tool for invasive risk assessment of vascular plants in terrestrial Antarctica", Autonomous University of Madrid Spain to Australian Antarctic Division

Application for both schemes:

This year, applications should be completed on-line by 4 June 2014.

To begin the on-line application process go to: http://www.scar.org/awards/fellowships/information.html. Full details for both COMNAP and SCAR felloships can be found there and also the link to complete the on-line application.

Any questions should be directed to:

1. for the SCAR Fellowship Scheme, the SCAR Secretariat (email info@scar.org)

2. for the COMNAP Fellowship Scheme, the COMNAP Secretariat (email sec@comnap.aq)

The proposal texts should make it absolutely clear what activities will be carried out, what will be achieved, what deliverables will ensue (e.g. papers, technologies), at what cost, and in what time frame. Guidelines for preparing the proposal are given in Section 8 of the Application form.

In order to apply, candidates will be required to first contact and liaise with appropriate host Antarctic projects or programmes in order to secure the support and mentorship of an active research team capable of including them in their own research programme.

Elements of the Application form:

1. Application Form – Applicant to fill in;

2. Research Proposal – Prepared following guidelines given in Section 8 of the instructions;

3. Home Institute Referee;

4. Host Institute Referee;

COMNAP Application Pack can be downloaded from here or from the SCAR website at http://www.scar.org/awards/fellowships/information.html.

Evaluation for both schemes:

A scientific review panel chaired by a representative of the SCAR Capacity Building, Education and Training Committee and in addition comprising a member of the SCAR Executive Committee, a member of the COMNAP Executive Committee, the Chief Officers of the three Standing Scientific Groups or their Alternates; and the Executive Officer will evaluate all proposals on the basis of the scientific excellence of the proposed research. This evaluation will also take into consideration factors such as:

§ its importance and timeliness;

§ its achievability within the time frame allotted;

§ the extent to which links have already been established with the proposed host institution;

§ the extent to which it will strengthen the scientific research capacity of nations with smaller or less well-developed Antarctic research programmes;

§ its 'fit' with SCAR's place in science and with SCAR's scientific directions; and for COMNAP, its fit with COMNAP's goals and objectives.

Completion of Fellowship:

At the end of each Fellowship, each candidate must provide a report to be published on the SCAR and/or COMNAP websites. Reports should cover the accomplishments and a budgetary report. These reports will be tabled and discussed at the COMNAP AGM. The SCAR and/or COMNAP Fellowship scheme should be acknowledged in any resulting publications.