Biological Invasions Internships and Bursaries for 2027

Internships and bursaries are available to conduct research as part of the South African National Biodiversity Institute’s work on biological invasions. Research must be relevant to one of SANBI’s mandated functions (status report and monitoring; incursion detection and response planning; eradication planning and co-ordination; risk analysis; and taxonomy).

For more details see the following resources:

• https://doi.org/10.1590/sajs.2013/20120111
• https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2024/17002
• https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7414803
• https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.101.162932

For potential projects and topics see: https://tinyurl.com/yck5tmx4

For other projects, please contact us before submitting an application to check if the proposal is suitable.

Requirements and running costs

Candidates must be pro-active, enthusiastic, and interested in doing excellent research that will help improve our understanding and management of biological invasions.

Internships and bursaries will be awarded in line with national equity targets and the need to diversify the research landscape, with candidates to be based at historically disadvantaged or new public higher education institutions encouraged to apply.

Internships and bursaries are only available to South African citizens linking with a public university in South Africa.

Research development interns must have an Hons or equivalent degree but not an MSc or equivalent. A key output of a successful research development internship will be a research proposal in-line with SANBI’s mandated work on biological invasions. Interns are expected to be based at an academic institution with a strong link to SANBI staff working on biological invasions.

Running expenses are covered separately and vary depending on the project and availability of funds.

No funding is available for part-time studies or for running costs of on-going projects.

Application procedure

Applications must include:

1. a cover-sheet available at: https://tinyurl.com/yck5tmx4
2. Research development interns: a provisional project title with a paragraph on how it links to SANBI’s mandate (<200 words)
   Hons: a one-page project outline; Masters/Doctoral: a two-page project outline
3. a full CV
4. letters of reference from two academic supervisors
5. a statement of support from a prospective academic supervisor/host
6. a statement of support from a SANBI staff member (co-supervisor, co-host, or contact)
7. a certified copy of academic record
8. a certified copy of highest degree
9. a certified copy of ID

Send a single pdf with documents in the above order to: students@sanbi.org.za; sanbi.dbi.bursaries@gmail.com

Subject: SANBI Biological Invasions 2027 Bursary/Internship application

E-mails must be <11MB.

For academic queries please contact Prof John Wilson (jrwilson@sun.ac.za)

For questions about the application process please contact Ms René du Toit (r.dutoit@sanbi.org.za)

SANBI reserves the right not to fill these bursaries and internships. If no response has been received within 28 working days of the closing date, candidates may assume that their applications were unsuccessful.