Margaret Middleton Fund

Margaret Middleton Fund for endangered Australian native vertebrate animals

This award is now open for applications for 2013.

The Fund offers annual Science Grants of up to $15,000 each to support field-based, high-quality ecological research. The objective of the grant is to provide financial support for conservation-based research of Australian ecosystems (including off-shore islands and the continental shelf) that ultimately will lead to tangible outcomes for management. The scope of the research is open to terrestrial, marine and freshwater research on vertebrate animals. Grants are GST exempt.
The grant is open to postgraduate students and Early Career Researchers (within 3 years of completing their PhD). Annual funding is intended for field research over 18-24 months.

Criteria

  • Applicants must be Australian citizens or permanent residents and either enrolled for a PhD and hold an APA or university scholarship, or be within 3 years of obtaining a PhD and hold a postdoctoral position at a recognised institution e.g. CSIRO or University.
  • The research must address ecological and conservation problems in Australian systems. Preference will be given to novel research which deals with empirical field-based data and ecological community processes with possible management implications rather than pure genetic or modelling research.
  • The work should lead to publication in high quality ecological or conservation/management journals.
    Successful grant winners will be expected to present a 1 page progress report of their work to the Secretary after 6 months and a full report within 3 months of the termination of the grant.
    Conference travel is not supported.
  • Journal page charges up to a maximum of $2,000 may be supported
  • University or research institutional on-costs are not supported

Applications

Applications should include the following information:

  • The following completed cover sheet. (If 2 applicants, 2 cover sheets)
  • A Research proposal structured under the following headings: Aims & Background, Significance of the research, Methodology, Management implications of the project (Maximum of 2 A4 pages using 12 font.)
  • Itemised budget with brief justification for each item, the names and details of research funding already received (project title, funding body, amount) (Maximum of 1 A4 page using 12 font)
  • Brief CV including qualifications, summary of professional/research experience, publications/presentations (Maximum of 1 page A4 using 12 font)
  • For PhD students a letter is required from their supervisor indicating briefly that such a research proposal can be conducted from within the Department.
  • For post-doctoral fellows two referees’ reports should also be attached to the application. The reports should be addressed to the ‘Selection Committee’ and be no more than one page in length and indicate the referees’ knowledge of the research and the researcher’s ability to carry out the project successfully.
  • Please type name of applicant on top right corner of each page

Applications and referee reports (where relevant), must be emailed to awards@science.org.au and received by the 31st of August. Late applications will not be considered.

Grants are offered to successful applicants in early December each year for projects to be carried out in the next year. 

This grant does not provide funds for bench fees, managerial, visa, insurance or infrastructure costs.

Areas of research funded to date include:

  • Understanding and Managing Threats to Wet Tropics Amphibians: Improving Management Prioritisation and Using Novel Techniques to Protect Frogs - 2012 - Ross Alford, James Cook University
  • Finding the endangered spotted-tail quoll; new detection methods for declining and low density species -2012 - Kellie Leigh, Conservation Ecology
  • Estuarine fidelity, home-range, habitat use and energetics of stingrays - 2012 - Teagan Marzullo, University of New South Wales
  • Northern corroboree frog disease dynamics and recovery - 2012 - Ben Scheele, University of Canberra
  • Returning warru (black-footed rock-wallabies) to the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands of South Australia - 2012 - Rebecca West, University of Adelaide
  • The phylogeography and population genetics of the long-nosed
  • How do dingoes provide conservation benefits for the dusky hopping
  • Towards an effective conjugate vaccine to combat debilitating chlamydial disease in the koala
  • Sea turtles threatened by marine debris: do they have a choice in the matter?
  • Restoring ecosystem function from the top
  • Sea snake declines and extinctions on Australia’s coral reefs
  • Population genetics and captive breeding – red-finned blue-eye and the Edgbaston goby
  • Immunogenetics of pardalote species in south-eastern Australia
  • Ecology of the kultarr
  • Fire, genetics and the eastern chestnut mouse
  • Conservation biology of the purple-crowned fairy-wren
  • Myxozoan parasite in the green and golden bell frog
  • Bridled nailtail wallaby – evaluating the mesopredator release theory
  • Irwin’s turtle – locating and protecting nesting sites
  • Pygmy blue tongue lizard – long term conservation
  • Spotted-tailed quoll – habitat use of the species and its interactions with wild dogs
  • Dingo – Australia’s top terrestrial predator and its role protecting the remaining native small mammal fauna
  • Tasmanian devils and population decline from Devil Facial Tumour disease
  • Maximising captive breeding success and conservation in the southern dibbler and dunnart species
  • Changes in telomere length re the determination of the ages of free-living chondrichthyan populations
  • The population and epidemiological dynamics associated with decline of woylies in Australia
  • Wildlife general – protecting the prey with chemical camouflage
  • Dispersal patterns and swimming behaviour of hatchling flatback turtles
  • How to support malleefowl recruitment in a fragmented landscape
  • Monitoring extinction of the northern quoll

For more information contact awards@science.org.au