Opportunities

NATURA Early-Career Fellowship Program

The NATURA Early-Career Fellowship Program operated from 2019 to 2026 as a paid exchange opportunity for students, early-career academics, and practitioners working on nature-based solutions for urban resilience. Through 6- or 15-week fellowships, participants engaged in research, collaboration, and networking with host institutions across NATURA’s global network, and in some cases with NATURA’s Thematic Working Groups when proposals directly supported their objectives.

The program was designed to deepen research and synthesis, strengthen practitioner-researcher exchange, and build lasting connections across institutions and networks. NATURA provided support for travel, lodging, and meals, along with stipends for graduate students and, in some cases, additional support for other fellows. Participants were expected to produce concrete outcomes such as reports, presentations, publications, webinars, or other knowledge-sharing products, and to contribute to the broader Early-Career Network.

The program is not currently accepting applications, but it will likely reopen soon. To receive updates on future fellowship opportunities, please sign up for the NATURA newsletter.

Past Fellows

Closed Opportunities

  • –CLOSED–

    The Resilient Urban Latin America (RULA) International Research Experience for Students (IRES) project offers undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to conduct eight to ten weeks of onsite research in a Latin American or Caribbean urban community facing climate extremes. This upcoming project year’s location is Bogotá, Colombia. This research will afford students collaboration and mentorship experiences for conducting research, gaining skills in research design, data analysis and management, and presentation across diverse social and political cultures; project outcomes can be integrated within existing dissertation research. Student participants will also network with members of the NATURA Network through reading group, blogs, and social media.

  • –CLOSED–

    NEW: Proposals for TWGs can include funding for an Early-Career scholar in the NATURA fellowship program!

    To promote collaboration among network members, NATURA is requesting proposals for thematic working groups. Thematic working groups should seek to advance synthesis on theory, research, and/or best practices related to nature-based solutions across diverse global social-biophysical contexts. Please note NATURA does not support new research. Thematic working groups will be expected to primarily meet virtually. However, thematic working groups will have the opportunity to apply for support from NATURA to host in-person workshops (more details below).

    The thematic working groups must:

    1. identify novel, cross-cutting synthesis goals that can be addressed by collaboration of researchers and practitioners across NATURA networks.

    2. be inclusive of a diversity of global NBS networks, researchers, practitioners, and early career representatives

    3. present a one- to two-year work plan and expected products, including but not limited to scientific papers, high-level summaries, policy briefs, new tools, etc

    4. have designated leadership responsible for meeting the group’s goals and reporting to the NATURA Coordinating Committee
      To ensure open opportunities for interested network members to join the group, invited thematic working groups will be asked to submit an abstract (<400 words) to be posted to the NATURA website.

    Finally, invited thematic working groups will be expected to 1) submit a short annual written report describing synthesis activities and network participation (self evaluation on group’s success addressing the above criteria), and 2) present progress annually during a NATURA webinar or All Hands Meeting.

    How to submit a thematic working group proposal:

    Interested groups should submit a short (1-2 page) synopsis of the proposed thematic group that includes: 

    1. synthesis goals and rationale for new cross-cutting thematic working group

    2. designated leadership and a preliminary list of participants highlighting diversity across networks, disciplines, sectors, researchers, practitioners, early career, etc

    3. a preliminary work plan, including timeline, virtual meetings, in-person workshops, etc

    4. proposed output(s) and product(s)

    Proposals will be reviewed by the NATURA Coordinating Committee, who will take an active role in making recommendations for linking in new participants/networks and merging similar thematic groups to reduce duplicated efforts and ensure diverse participation across NATURA. The Coordinating Committee may also invite or suggest thematic working groups. Currently Closed