The 2024-25 Research Fellowship Program application period is now open!

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How do we meet today’s climate challenges?

By training a new kind of scientist.

Despite the need for decision-relevant science to solve today’s urgent climate challenges, many graduate programs still follow traditional academic approaches to developing science, in which science is produced independently from the complex, real-world contexts that managers face. This often results in a gap between the scientific knowledge and the knowledge needed by communities and decision-makers to address climate challenges.

We need scientists that are capable of continual engagement with decision-makers and communities throughout the science creation process. This can result in science that is more useful and used in decision-making, including products that aren’t just peer-reviewed papers, but may be tools for managers, collaborative networks or websites for sharing resources.

How do we train scientists to produce usable climate science?

It takes a comprehensive approach.

The NW CASC’s Research Fellowship Program is transforming the way we train scientists so they have the skills and experience to collaboratively produce usable science. Our program enables graduate students and postdocs from a variety of scientific backgrounds to develop decision-relevant science in collaboration with regional natural resource managers and decision-makers, while receiving training in the principles of actionable science.

“This [fellowship] broadened my perspective in collaborative work and provided me with more tangible skills to approach transboundary research. It challenged me to think hard about my work as a scientist and inspired me to move forward in my career toward applied research that has meaning beyond scientific inquiry.”

The NW CASC Research Fellowship Program supports research that is:

1. relevant to management decisions related to identifying and addressing climate impacts on Northwest natural and cultural resource management;
2. relevant to primary NW CASC stakeholders; and
3. focused in NW CASC’s geographic domain.

The NW CASC Research Fellowship Program provides training in actionable science through:

• Monthly cohort meetings
• Skills-building webinars
• Winter quarter actionable science graduate seminar
• Northwest Climate Conference
• Annual science/practice Deep Dive workshop

Program Timing & Eligibility

• The NW CASC Research Fellowship program is a one-year program, starting at the beginning of the fall term and continuing through the end of the following July.
• The Request for Proposals is typically announced in January. Fellows are selected in the spring for the following academic year. For more information on the application process, visit our Funding Opportunities page.
• We accept applications from graduate students and postdocs across our Consortium. We accept applications from graduate students at University of Washington (UW), Boise State University (BSU), Oregon State University (OSU), Portland State University (PSU), University of Montana (UM), Washington State University (WSU) and Western Washington University (WWU). We accept applications from postdoctoral scholars at BSU, OSU, PSU, UM, WSU and WWU (this fellowship cannot support postdocs at UW).

Our Research Fellows in Numbers