U.S.-Pacific Resilience and Adaptation Fellowship Program PhD Scholarship 2024: (Deadline: 28 August, 2024)

Applications are open for the U.S.-Pacific Resilience and Adaptation Fellowship Program PhD Scholarship 2024. The U.S.-Pacific Resilience and Adaptation Fellowship Program is funded by the U.S. Department of State. The Program is designed to support the University of the South Pacific (USP) in its goal to develop the next generation of leaders to effectively tackle the challenges facing the South Pacific caused by climate change.

Climate change and subsequent impacts, including rising ocean levels and temperatures, ocean acidification and increased intensity of severe weather events, are already changing ecosystems at an unprecedented pace and in ways we may not fully understand for decades. The complex and varied impacts of climate change are creating critical new environmental challenges and threaten the natural environment’s (land and ocean) capacity to absorb shocks. The majority of Pacific Islands countries are highly vulnerable to climate change – threatening food systems, livelihoods, community health and security.

The Scholarship Scheme offers fully funded 3-year scholarships for full-time PhD studies to citizens from all member countries of the USP. This scholarship will provide an opportunity for exceptional candidates to undertake their PhD research in close collaboration with selected U.S. partner universities, including:

• Georgetown University – Earth Commons Institute
• Stanford University – Doerr School of Sustainability
• University of California, San Diego – Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• University of California, Santa Barbara – Bren School of Environmental Science & Management
• University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa

Scholarship

The scholarship benefits for each candidate based at USP’s Laucala campus (or otherwise approved) will include:

• Annual tuition fees (paid directly to USP)
• Annual general service fee (paid directly to USP)
• Annual health service fee (paid directly to USP)
• Annual living allowance of FJ$24,000 / year (or equivalent local currency))
• Annual book allowance of FJ$750 / year
• Laptop for use during PhD candidature
• Annual dependent allowance of FJ$11,000/year in Fiji for eligible candidates.
• Establishment allowance of FJ$1,942 as one-off-payment at the beginning of the first year (if candidate is required to relocate to USP Laucala campus).
• Relocation allowance to cover the cost of a return economy air ticket for candidates required to travel to the Laucala campus to accept their offer (please note that dependent airfares are not included).
• Research grant of a maximum of FJ$45,000 (to be approved and administered by the relevant USP School).

Eligibility

To qualify for this scholarship, applicants must meet the following requirements:

• Applicants must be citizens of any of the 12-member countries comprising USP, which include Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
• Applicants should have completed one of the following master’s degrees:
  • A master’s degree by thesis,
  • A master’s degree including a Supervised Research Project, or
  • A master’s degree with 25% or more independent research and a mini-thesis.
• Preference may be given to applicants who have:
  • 5 years or more of relevant industry / professional experience,
  • Research publications in the area relevant to the proposed research,
  • Be willing to commence their full-time research as soon as possible.

Deadline: 28 August, 2024

Application

Application requirements include:

• Completed U.S.-PRAFP Scholarship Application Form
• Cover letter stating why you wish to apply for this scholarship
• Curriculum vitae with current details and contact details of three referees
• Letter of support from 2 referees who can evaluate the applicant’s research potential
• Certified copies of relevant academic transcripts and certificates
• Proof of citizenship (e.g. certified copy of passport bio-data)
• Research Intent (details on research intent) outlining proposed research interest and plan (no more than 2 pages). A full research proposal is not required at the application stage but a clear overview of the nature of your intended study

Submit your application in PDF format via email to prakriti.rachna@usp.ac.fj with the subject line “US-PRAFP Scholarship Application – [YOUR NAME]”

For more information, visit US-PRAFP.