Deadline: November 20, 2023
Applications are open for the Ocean Country Partnership Programme Scholarships Belize 2024-2025. The OCPP Belize Scholarships, funded through the UK’s Blue Planet Fund, offer a unique opportunity for students from Belize to undertake a fully funded Master’s in marine science. Aimed at early to mid-career researchers from Belize who wish to develop a career in marine science, the OCPP Scholarships Belize will support world-class research in this area.
Hosted by the University of Belize, the scholarships will enable scholars from Belize to harness their regional knowledge, conduct vital research and help develop solutions to marine environmental problems.
The aim of the scholarships is to support scientific research that will contribute to the conservation and sustainable management of marine resources and strengthen responses to marine environmental challenges. The scholarships will also make a positive and tangible impact on the livelihoods of coastal communities that depend on healthy marine ecosystems.
Scholarship
Scholarships will be awarded to Masters’ students. Each successful recipient will be entitled to:
- Tuition fees
- Living allowance
- Research support grant
- Disability and maternity costs (case by case basis)
Eligibility
- Applicants for Master’s should be citizens of Belize;
- Should be working in or have significant experience of work in the areas of environment, fisheries and aquaculture science;
- Should hold an undergraduate or bachelor’s-level degree;
- Will need to apply for one of the specific MPhil titles listed and include this in the OCPP application form;
- Applicants must meet the eligibility criteria for postgraduate study at the University of Belize.
Degree Programmes
Masters
- MPhil in Biodiversity
- MPhil in Climate Change
- MPhil in Marine Pollution
- MPhil in Sustainable Seafood
- MPhil in Marine Environmental Science
The scholarships can facilitate a range of potential projects and research topics, such as:
- Climate change and marine protected area management effectiveness. Linking managed access review, IUU / C&E, deep-sea camera system
- Socioeconomic impacts of Belize’s managed access programme
- Estimating the Blue Carbon potential of marine habitats in Belize
- Mapping coastal forest change
- Addressing current and emerging threats in Belize’s freshwater and marine environment
- Developing protocols for understanding plastic pollution and its associated sources on the shorelines of Belize (including in mangroves and sargassum)
- Development of a bioindicator for pollution monitoring in Belize
- Aquatic food production is dependent on good water quality
- Data science in capture fisheries, data collection, modelling and stock assessment
- Developing protocols and practices to strengthen aquatic animal health in Belize and developing associated risk modelling and data analysis
Application
Applications for the OCPP scholarships must be completed through the online application form on the ACU website to be considered. If you don’t already have an ACU account, you will need to set one up by clicking ‘Get Started’, in the top right-hand corner of the application login page.
They strongly advise applicants to read all of the application guidance and FAQs carefully, before starting their application, and then complete all questions in full. Applications are now open and will close on 20 November 2023 at 16:00 UTC.
For more information, visit OCPP Scholarships Belize.
