I have worked hard here with Dr Sama Zefania head of IESM (University of Menabe) trying to make progress with our UoW-funded PSF project: Exploring policy pathways considering migration dynamics in the sustainable management of protected areas in Madagascar. IESM is our external partner in the implementation of this project. We are on the preparation phase of the project, meeting authorities, key partners and research assistants. Eights students from IESM will be engaged in data collection in Menabe and Androy interviewing migrants and local authorities to understand reasons of migration and its link with deforestation within Menabe Protected Area. I recall that Menabe protected area (210,000 hectares) has an exceptional biodiversity with very high rate of species endemism but has faced rapid deforestation hypothesised to be exacerbated by migration of people from Southern Madagascar, the driest region, located in the extreme south of the country. It is believed that migrants have fled from drought and hard life condition in South to squat in the forest or settle in villages near the protected area to practice slash and burn agriculture and grow maize and peanuts. In collaboration with local partners and authorities here in Menabe, our PSF project aims at unravelling socioecological complexities and increasing awareness in order to promote informed policy decisions.

“This week, Dr Herizo Andrianandrasana, a research fellow from Institiute for Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick, is in Aasiaat Greenland, to participate in a workshop called 'Towards good practice in the use of local and scientific knowledge for informing natural resources management'. Participants include Danish and Greenlandic government officials, local associations of fishers and hunters, local community members practicing community-based monitoring, scientists from Universities from Denmark, Greenland, UK/Madagascar, Norway, Japan, USA, Brazil, and local authorities from the municipalities in Greenland. The Greenlandic government delegation was led by the Minister of fishing & hunting.

Heri's talk in Aasiaat focusses on the adoption of the 2015 'Manaus Letter' he co-developed during an international symposium in Brazil in 2014, and his 19 years’ experience on community-based conservation and monitoring in Madagascar. The aim of workshop is to promote and strengthen the use of community-based conservation approach in Greenland and also exchange experiences from different parts of the world so that local people, scientists and authorities in Greenland can strengthen collaboration towards sustainable fishing and hunting (marine and terrestrial wildlife), build the gap between scientific monitoring and local knowledge. The workshop is an opportunity to provide realistic recommendations towards the use of Participatory Monitoring and community-based conservation in decision making. The outcomes of this workshop which is supported by the EU funded CAPARDUS Project and Government of Denmark funded UArctic Thematic Network on Collaborative Research Management, will be presented at the COP 15 of CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) expected in Montreal on 7-19th of Dec 2022”.

The third call for applications to the EUTOPIA Science and Innovation FellowshipLink opens in a new window scheme opened on 15th September 2022 with a deadline of 15th December 2022.

The Fellowships provide two years of funding for early career researchers to undertake a significant piece of independent research as a step towards establishing a permanent academic career. Fellows will be based at Warwick but will be able to strengthen their research by undertaking secondments at other EUTOPIA-SIF institutions and external partners.

The IAS at Warwick will offer up to six fellowships in the third call. Fellows will be hosted by the IAS but, to support their research, they will be based in an academic department or centres at Warwick under the guidance of an academic mentor.

Applications are welcome from any subject area or discipline but are expected to show a link to one of the five EUTOPIA SIF key research areas:

• Materials Engineering;

• Data & Intelligence;

• Health;

• Sustainability;

• Welfare & Inclusion.

Successful applicants will start in September 2023 and join a community of fellows across the EUTOPIA Alliance fellows to develop their independent research profiles and undertake training to help establish an academic career.

Further information and an FAQs are available on the IAS WebsiteLink opens in a new window.

• Grant application us open for BISA (British International Studies Association) ECSRG, which provides up to £3,000 per grant for early-career researchers within five years of completing their PhD. Find out more about the grant here.