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Commission
The 2020 biennial Commission meeting of the IWC will be held at the Grand Bernardin Resort, Portoroz, Slovenia
Voluntary Fund for Small Cetacean Conservation Research
The IWC Small Cetaceans Conservation Research Fund supports high priority research that improves conservation outcomes for populations of small cetaceans, particularly those that are threatened or especially vulnerable to human activities. Since 2009, a number of generous donations from several Governments, supplemented by valuable contributions from several NGOs, have made it possible for the Commission to establish periodic calls for new small cetacean conservation proposals. Large or small, each of these contributions has helped launch the proposals listed below. Click here for a table of donors.
News on successful proposals
List of funded projects (2010, 2011, and 2013 calls)
Calls For Funding Proposals
The Small Cetaceans Fund is replenished on a voluntary basis thanks to generous donations from Governments and NGOs. If sufficient funding is available, calls for proposals will normally be announced in years when the Commission meeting is held.
In years where sufficient funds are gathered the following deadlines will be applied:
- Calls for projects will be announced two months prior to the Scientific Committee meeting
- Proposal submissions must be received one month prior to the Scientific Committee meeting
- Proposal evaluations are made the month preceding the Scientific Committee meeting
- Funding recipients pre-proclamation are made at the end of Scientific Committee meeting
- Final decision on recipients are made following approval at the Commission meeting
- Contract definition and signature: October-November
- Payment of first instalment: December-January
The small cetacean research funding must follow the necessary procedures of the IWC. The Application Form can be found here (PDF) or here (Word version) and Review Criteria can be found here. More details on the selection process can be found below.
Preference will be given to projects in-line with the previously established priority topics and recommendations of the IWC sub-committee on small cetaceans. During some years, calls for proposals may highlight certain priority topics on which the Small Cetacean sub-committee is particularly keen to receive proposals.
In order to maximise the number of projects supported by this fund, proposals shall be considered on two tiers; budgets of GBP 5000 or less and budgets of GBP 20,000 or less. Maximum funding is GBP 20,000 per project. Proposals for partially funded projects will also be considered, only if sufficient additional funding to complete the proposed project is confirmed prior to contract signing with IWC.
Frequently asked questions on the application process can be found here.
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Read more about the funding proposal selection process...
The Small Cetacean Research Fund Review Panel comprises the Chair and Vice-chair of the Scientific Committee (SC), the IWC Science Lead, the convenor and co-convenor of the Small Cetacean Sub-committee and five other members of the SC with appropriate expertise and broad geographical representation.
The projects recommended by the Review Panel are provided to the Sub-committee on Small Cetaceans and then to the full Scientific Committee. Recommended proposals will be included in the Scientific Committee’s budget, as given in its report to the Commission under the heading of a specific request to the Voluntary Research Fund for Small Cetaceans. Projects will be awarded after final approval by the Commission.
For 2021-22, the Review Panel consists of Robert Sudyam and Alex Zerbini (SC Chair and Vice-chair), Lindsay Porter and Fernando Trujilo (Convenor and Co-convenor of the Sub-committee on Small Cetaceans), Iain Staniland, IWC Lead for Science, Debra Palka (ex Chair of the SC), Arne Bjørge (ex-chair of the SC and of the Sub-committee on Small Cetaceans), Randall Reeves (Chair of the IUCN/SSC Cetacean Specialist Group), Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho (member of the IWC Scientific Committee and Chair of the IWC Conservation Committee), Mike Double (member of the SC).
This group may suggest improvements to proposals where appropriate and can solicit the assistance of other researchers in the review process if necessary.
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