Rafe Sagarin Fund for Innovative Ecology Grant

Rafe Sagarin Fund for Innovative Ecology Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Santa Barbara Foundation
Amount: Up to US $2,500
Last Updated: October 18, 2025

Summary

The Rafe Sagarin Fund for Innovative Ecology Grant supports innovative research that incorporates observational ecology, inviting proposals from diverse disciplines. Open to full-time graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, it encourages creative integration of natural history with social sciences, technology, and the arts. Awards of up to $2,500 aim to address significant ecological and societal questions, fostering interdisciplinary inquiry and active participation in the Western Society of Naturalists' meetings.

Overview

Scope Rafe Sagarin’s research interests were incredibly broad, and proposals are invited from a similar breadth of disciplines and approaches. Rafe championed the importance of rediscovering natural history, and applications are encouraged from students whose research is grounded solidly in the natural history of marine, freshwater, or terrestrial organisms. Since Rafe’s conception of observational ecology encompassed more than traditional natural history, the fund especially invites proposals for interdisciplinary inquiry that integrate natural history in creative ways with one or more of the following: historical data, including that gathered from unconventional sources social sciences remote sensing, remote video, and other technologies education and public outreach citizen science molecular tools the arts Overall, the fund seeks to build on Rafe’s legacy by supporting graduate student and postdoctoral research to address important ecological and/or societal questions through observational approaches applied in novel, creative, and (last, but not least) fun ways. Rafe Sagarin Fund for Innovative Ecology Grant The Rafe Sagarin Fund for Innovative Ecology, in collaboration with the Western Society of Naturalists, provides funding for creative research that includes a strong element of observational ecology. Funds are available for actual research costs, such as salaries, field and laboratory equipment, consumable supplies, computer time, usage fees, and research travel costs. Funding At least one award of up to $2,500 US is available to support research to begin within the year following the WSN meeting (in-progress research is also eligible). Award recipients are strongly encouraged to present their research findings at a subsequent WSN meeting and will be offered free registration to one meeting to facilitate sharing of their results.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Applicant must be a full-time graduate student enrolled in a formal degree program or a postdoctoral scholar at an accredited university. There are no citizenship restrictions and students from all countries are eligible.Membership in the Western Society of Naturalists is required during the year of application (graduate students receive a discounted rate of $5/year). You must be a member of this organization to apply for this award - become a member. Membership in the Western Society of Naturalists is required during the year of application (graduate students receive a discounted rate of $5/year).

Ineligibility

Previous award winners are ineligible.