Leadership Development Grants are designed to support people who are currently playing a key role in projects that are enhancing and maintaining the natural living environment, particularly landscape restoration projects. The grants will assist with leadership/professional development activities, so successful applicants are equipped with skills and knowledge they need to further their conservation work – to either remain or become a leader.
Grants are available to applicants who have been working in conservation for some time, as well as new entrants in the field.
Grants are not made to people working for government agencies, consultancies, or companies that have the ability to provide professional development to their staff.
Leadership Development Grants are not intended to support Ph.D. work. However, Ph.D. candidates and other postgraduate students are eligible to apply for a Leadership Development Grant for their professional development if they are a leading figure in a conservation project.
Closing dates and when to apply
You can apply for funding in any one of these grant rounds – February, May, August and November.
Here are dates when the rounds open for the rest of 2022 and the application form appears online:
- 1st July 2022 (funding released August 2022)
- 1st October 2022 (funding released November 2022)
- 1st December 2022 (funding released February 2023)
Support provided to successful applicants:
• Grants are usually up to $5,000 and undertaken over 1 year.
• Grants do not contain GST.
• Grants are paid to the individual, not to their organisation.
Professional/leadership activities include:
• courses, workshops, seminars dedicated to leadership development
• training that will contribute to professional development (eg. media, strategic planning, landscape ecology, community development )
• undertaking mentoring opportunities with specialists
• other activities, where it can be demonstrated that they will increase the applicant’s ability
to further their conservation work
How to apply
The application form will ask applicants to;
- In no more than 500 words, applicants must describe how the grant will assist them in theirleadership/professional development and in turn how it will enable them to further their conservation or landscape restoration work.
Applicants should also show that they are:
a) active in a significant landscape restoration project or other conservation project/s;
b) aware of the commonly accepted scientific knowledge for landscape restoration and
conservation biology;
c) aware of community development and education principles for engaging a crosssection of the community in community-driven conservation work;
d) recognised within the local community as a ‘leading’ or ‘potentially leading’
participant in landscape restoration or another conservation project (note: the
applicant need not necessarily be the formal leader of a project, group or
organisation);
e) able to work with a variety of people and establish enduring partnerships;
f) able to attract additional resources for a project;
g) willing to communicate their experiences to the wider community (eg via field days,
seminars).
h) able to submit a rough budget for consideration including possible professional
development options - Supply two supporting letters from referees about the applicant’s personal qualities and professional expertise are required. At least one of these should be from an organisation who is involved in the applicant’s project eg Landcare group, landholder etc. Referees may be contacted for further information.
