Award Grants & Scholarships

This RFP is only open to students who are registered and in good standing with a recognized academic institution. We anticipate making 15-20 awards total, ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 for undergraduate and $2,500 to $5,000 for graduate students. These awards are not intended to cover the full cost of a project and BCI hopes these funds provide opportunities for matching grants from other funding sources. Specifically, we are seeking proposals for research in:

• Latin America & the Caribbean – in partnership with the Latin America Bat Conservation Network (RELCOM);
• Africa and the surrounding islands – in partnership with Bat Conservation Africa (BCA); and
• Globally – including research in developed countries.

From the awardees, we will recognize outstanding students for the following special awards:

• Women in Conservation Science – We anticipate awarding up to five (5) awards to students from a developing country (low-income and lower to middle income countries as defined by the World Bank (http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-and-lending-groups). This recognition comes with an additional $1,000 to $2,000 in support of the student’s professional development.
• Merlin D. Tuttle Bat Conservation Scholarship – an annual award to a student whose research addresses an important conservation issue. This recognition comes with an additional $1,000 in support of their research.
• Verne & Marion Read Bat Conservation Award – an annual award to a student who inspires education and community action to protect bats around the world and addresses critical conservation needs. This recognition comes with an additional $1,000 in support of their project.

This award is now closed. Please check back soon for additional funding opportunities.

Bat Conservation International (BCI) operates its Granting Programs in line with the ten (10) critical conservation strategies listed in the organization’s Strategic Plan. These strategies highlight the need to accelerate scientific research into priority issues, catalyze action to prevent the loss of species or critical habitat, develop innovative solutions to address serious threats, create new mechanisms to engage stakeholders at all levels and ensure sustainability, perfect emerging technologies for use in protecting bats, and support the work of promising students and young conservationists as they become the next generation of bat champions around the world.

Since its founding in 1982, BCI has supported hundreds of university students and aspiring conservationists in dozens of countries through its Granting Programs, traditionally called Student Research Scholarships and Global Grassroots Grants. If you are interested in applying for funding from BCI’s Granting Programs, please read the details below to determine if one of our open Requests for Proposals (RFPs) fits your project and to confirm your eligibility.

BCI is an equal opportunity organization and strongly encourages applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBT applicants.

For general questions about BCI’s granting programs, email us This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Available RFPs

• None. Please check back soon. 

2016 Student Research Scholarship for Global Bat Conservation Priorities Grantees

• Recipient: Farah Carrasco - Rueda
  Project Title: Response of bat communities to edge effects and changing landuse in a forest-dominated Amazonian landscape
  Project Location: Peru
  Special Recognition: Women in Conservation Science Award Recipient

• Recipient: Iroro Tanshi
  Project Title: Ecological predictors of forest interior insectivorous bat habitat and conservation of the vulnerable Hipposideros curtus
  Project Location: Nigeria
  Special Recognition: Women in Conservation Science Award Recipient

• Recipient: Jazmin Quiroz
  Project Title: Bat conservation in an Andean Tropical Dry forest of Bolivia
  Project Location: Bolivia
  Special Recognition: Women in Conservation Science Award Recipient

• Recipient: Matt Town
  Project Title: Identifying the Key Factors Which Influence the Nature and Magnitude of Human-Bat Conflict Within Malawi
  Project Location: Malawi
  Special Recognition: Verne & Marion Read Bat Conservation Award Recipient

• Recipient: Reilly Jackson
  Project Title: The Ecosystem Benefits of Cave-Roosting Bats in Agricultural Areas of Cambodia
  Project Location: Cambodia
  Special Recognition: Merlin D. Tuttle Bat Conservation Scholarship Recipient

• Recipient: Albérico Queiroz Salgueiro de Souza
  Project Title: Assessing the effects of landscape-scale deforestation on phyllostomid bat assemblages in Brazilian Atlantic Forest landscape
  Project Location: Brazil

• Recipient: Angelena Efstathiou
  Project Title: Humane Roost Exclusions and Their Effects on Bat Behaviour, Roosting Ecology and Home Range Size
  Project Location: Malawi

• Recipient: Benneth Obitte
  Project Title: Conservation assessment of Rousettus aegyptiacus: hunting effects and ecosystem services in southern Nigeria
  Project Location: Nigeria

• Recipient: David Bennett
  Project Title: Rainforest degradation and the insectivorous bats of Borneo
  Project Location: Malaysia

• Recipient: German Botto
  Project Title: Effect of landscape fragmentation in bat population dynamics and disease persistence in Uruguay
  Project Location: Uruguay

• Recipient: Génesis Mejía Vera
  Project Title: Diet and Fodder Area of Reproductive Females Leptonycteris Nivalis from Hidalgo, Mexico
  Project Location: Mexico

• Recipient: Jadelys Tonos
  Project Title: Effect of habitat loss on seed dispersal and forest community structure at fruit bat roosts
  Project Location: Madagascar

• Recipient: Jennifer de Sousa Barros
  Project Title: Threatened Cave Bats : an important tool for priority subterranean ecosystems identification for conservation
  Project Location: Brazil

• Recipient: Mateo Sanchez Rios
  Project Title: Bat community of the northeastern karstic zone of Colombia
  Project Location: Colombia

• Recipient: Priscilla Alpízar
  Project Title: Diet, gut microbiome, and immune system of a nectar-feeding bat in intensive banana plantations
  Project Location: Costa Rica

• Recipient: Reetika Maheshwary
  Project Title: Leptospirosis: From stressed Pteropid bats to ubiquitous rodents
  Project Location: India

• Recipient: Theresa Laverty
  Project Title: The role of water quality and availability in structuring desert bat communities
  Project Location: Namibia