Key Dates

Applications for the 2008 Stuart Leslie Bird Research Award are now open. The closing date for applications is Monday 31st March 2008.

Eligibility

Applications unrelated to native Australian birds are not eligible.

Post-graduate students (including honours) from a range of institutions around Australia are eligible for funding. Students must be studying at an Australian institute and grants are awarded on the strict understanding that funds will be exempt from institutional administration charges.

Two types of awards are available:

   1. Research Award - to support post-graduate research
   2. Conference Award - to enable attendance at scientific conferences

Applications in the following areas are encouraged:

• Field work on the behaviour and ecology of native Australian birds
• Conservation biology of threatened native birds and management of their habitats
• Travel to conferences within Australia by postgraduate students to deliver a presentation or contribute a paper or poster related to Australian birds

Grant value

Typically, grants of between $500 and $5000 are awarded for research projects and up to $500 for conferences. Grants for research projects are renewable for 2-3 years, provided satisfactory progress is made and reporting requirements are met. Preference is given to supporting researchers at an early stage of their research program.
Assessment

Applications will be assessed by at least two senior scientists from Birds Australia and/or external referees. Funds are limited and, regrettably, not all applications can be funded.

How to Apply

 Download SLBRA 2008 Research Form (54kb)

Download SLBRA 2008 Research Form (word 257kb)

 Download SLBRA 2008 Conference Form (51kb)

Download SLBRA 2008 Conference Form (word 264kb)

Projects funded

To date, more than 70 projects have been funded under the Award. Projects are enormously varied and include:

• Social organisation and breeding ecology of the Speckled Warbler Chthonicola sagittata
• The influence of a grassy understorey in small woodland remnants on Noisy Miner Manorina melanocephala numbers and behaviour
• Resource partitioning by seabirds on Montague Island, NSW
• Effects of artificial stock watering points on the distribution and abundance of bird species in mallee habitats
• The effect of disturbance on the Hooded Plover Thinornis rubricollis
• Influence of forest fragmentation and disturbance on migratory landbirds in the Greater Brisbane area
• The association between nesting Regent Honeyeaters and Noisy Friarbirds: who is using whom?
• A phylogenetic analysis of Tasmanian populations of the Australian Magpie
• Edge effects on forest bird community structure and nest predation rates
• An ecological study of the seabird communities of the Lowendal Islands (WA)
• Fuelling in the tropics: does climate constraint behaviour in Arctic-breeding shorebirds?
• Habitat utilisation, group size and productivity of White-browed Babblers Pomatostomus superciliosus in relation to the structure of Box-Ironbark Forest in north-east Victoria

Further details can be obtained from This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it at Birds Australia's National Office 03 9347 0757, Fax 03 9347 9323.