What is eligible

• Challenge Grant projects must be led by an experienced principal investigator, but can include financial support for students or other early-career collaborators. When submitting an expression of interest for a Challenge Grant, applicants may request to be considered for a WAI Fellowship, which offers mentorship and a supplementary stipend to postdoctoral researchers and PhD students pursuing a long-term career in wild animal welfare research. The process and parameters for fellowships will be shared with those invited to apply at the full proposal stage.  

• Eligible projects include those that are standalone, or those that add a wild animal welfare component to an existing non-Wild Animal Initiative funded project to broaden its scope. 

• Projects must be led by a principal investigator who is affiliated with a university or other research institution (e.g. a government agency).

• Projects must be led by or include collaborators who are residents of all countries where field work will take place. If a project is managed by an NGO, that NGO must be registered in the country where field work will take place.

• We prioritize funding for direct research costs (e.g. supplies, materials), though we do fund other expense areas (e.g. stipends, salaries, capital equipment) if they are fully justified relative to the project goals. Further details on what is eligible for funding can be found in our FAQs. We will not reject a proposal based solely on budget without first asking applicants to consider modifications, but applicants should limit their requests to what is reasonably needed to complete the project. 

What is not eligible

• We do not provide funding for indirect costs or institutional overhead.

• We are unable to sponsor visas, so we generally cannot fund work that would be carried out in the United States by a non-US resident.

• We are unable to fund research carried out in nations subject to sanctions by the United States (e.g. Iran, North Korea, Russia) or researchers who are residents of those nations.

• We generally do not fund more than one active project being led by the same Principal Investigator at the same time.

• Projects focused exclusively on a single welfare domain.

• Projects that do not characterize the subjective experience (welfare) of animals or do not treat it as their objective.

• Projects focused exclusively on wildlife conservation.