The Nature Conservancy is pleased to solicit applications for the NatureNet Science Fellows program, a set of new interdisciplinary conservation science postdoctoral fellowships. NatureNet Science Fellows seeks outstanding early-career scientists to improve and expand their research skills while directing their efforts towards problems at the interface of conservation, business and technology. The program is run in partnership with the following universities: Columbia, Cornell, Princeton, Stanford, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale. 

Applicants must identify one of the above six universities as their home institution, but are encouraged to also suggest potential appropriate collaborations with additional universities and institutions. The advisory council charged with choosing the fellows inclues Princeton pofessors Simon Levin and Daniel Rubenstein. Each applicant will be judged on the basis of his or her resume, letters of recommendation, and a short two-page essay that describes why the applicant is the right person for tackling one of the thematic problems described below.

Following selection, fellows will work with mentors based at their selected university and at the Conservancy to develop a research program. Fellows’ research programs will include both important basic research as well as science that addresses urgent challenges for conservation and that can be translated into or used immediately to guide action and policy. The joint mentorship provided by academia and the Conservancy will help fellows to implement this nexus of basic and pragmatic.

Each class of NatureNet Science Fellows will work in thematic research areas, and thereby be able to interact and form links across universities and other institutions. This year’s themes are: Agriculture: Pathways to Expanding Sustainable Food Production Systems; Securing Clean Water in Ample Supply; and Energy Futures.

Learn more about the fellowship program and apply at http://www.nature.org/ourscience/naturenet-science-fellowship-application-guidelines.xml.

Applications are due February 15, 2013.