Each year, BCI awards scholarships to help students at universities around the world conduct conservation-relevant research. The goal of this program is to support exceptionally talented students in research initiatives that will contribute the new knowledge that is essential to conserving bats and the ecosystems they serve worldwide.

The maximum one-year award per student is now $5,000. It is hoped that these funds will open opportunities for matching grants from other conservation organizations, government agencies and private foundations, and that BCI's support will grow in years to come.

We are now accepting applications for 2010 BCI Scholarships. Applications must be completed online. The deadline for receipt of applications for 2010 Scholarships is December 15, 2009.

General Scholarship Information

Go to the Grants Application Area

We congratulate the winners of the 2009 BCI Student Research Scholarships and gratefully recognize the generous donors whose support made them possible:

U.S. Forest Service International Programs

Eric Moise Bakwo Fils (University of Yaounde, Cameroon) Contribution to the knowledge of fruit bat of southern Cameroon rainforest: implication for seed dispersal and forest conservation, Cameroon

Kristine Bohmann (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) Investigating the interaction between free-tailed bats (Chaerephon pumilus) and the pest moth Eldana saccharina at Simunye, Swaziland

Beth Clare (University of Guelph, Canada) Species on the Menu: dietary resource partitioning among insectivores in the tropical bat community of the Guanacaste Conservation Area and comparisons to Ontario insectivorous bat populations, Costa Rica

Rodrigo Garcia-Morales (Instituto Potosino de Investigación Cientifica y Tecnológica, (Mexico) Fruit-eating bat diets and forest regeneration processes at the Huasteca region of San Luis Potosí, Mexico

Lee-sim Lim (Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom) The conservation consequences of forest fragmentation on bat dispersal behavior: a comparison of species diversity and distribution in Peninsular Malaysia

J. Leighton Reid (University of California-Santa Cruz, United States) The development of artificial bat roosts for tropical forest restoration, Costa Rica

Dalhoumi Ridha (Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, Tunisia) Bats of the Bou Hedma National Park: determining diversity, roost sites, diet and conservation, Tunisia

Pamela Thompson (University of California-Los Angeles, United States) The impact of landscape change on bat-plant interactions in a tropical dry forest, Mexico

Edgar Toribio (Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Mexico) Ecomorphological structure and phenology in the use of food resources of a frugivorous bats ensemble in middle tropical forest fragments of the center of Veracruz, Mexico

Amanda Wendt (University of Connecticut, United States) Seed Predation at tent sites of Phyllostomid fruit bats may mask their impact in forest regrowth, Costa Rica

Special Scholarship – Durian pollination U.S. Forest Service International Programs & The Brown Foundation

Pushpa Raj Acharya (Prince of Songkla University, Thailand) Radio tracking the Dawn Cave Nectar Bat (Eonycteris spelaea) to examine its efficiency and effectiveness in pollination of Durio zibethinus in Southern Thailand

Leo Model Foundation

Kristin Jonasson (University of Winnipeg, Canada) Hibernation energetics of little brown bats (Myotis lucifugis), Canada

Aneta Zapart (University of Gdansk, Poland) Habitat use by the pond bat (Myotis dasycneme) – a poorly studied and threatened European trawling species, Poland

Tommy Angell

Veronica Brown (University of Tennessee, United States) The impact of bats on insect crop pests over organic pecan orchards, US (Texas and Georgia)

Frank Cross Foundation

Judith Ramirez (University of Arizona, United States) Migration pattern and population genetic structure of the lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae), US (Arizona) and Mexico

Verne & Marion Read

Emma Stone (University of Bristol, United Kingdom) Impact of artificial lighting on the foraging and commuting behaviour of bats in the UK, with a focus on lesser horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus hipposideros), United Kingdom

David Williams & Kimberley Hunt

David Armitage (University of Florida, United States) Determining the effects of prescribed burning on the nocturnal insect and bat communities in Florida's high pine ecosystem, US (Florida)

T.W. Ammerman

Elisa Fuentes-montemayor (University of Stirling, United Kingdom) The influence of size, isolation and structure of woodland patches on bat populations within agricultural landscapes, UK (Scotland)

Bats & Wind Energy Cooperative

Rachael Cooper (University of Bristol, United Kingdom) Investigating the potential ecological impacts of wind energy facilities on British bats, United Kingdom