Published by Roberta Kamille - On 8 February 2012

 SCGIS Global Scholarship Program 2012

 
The Society for Conservation GIS (SCGIS - http://www.scgis.org) Global Scholarship Program is not a typical scholarship program.  Rather, it is a support program that covers SOME of the costs to allow you attend 2 of the best Conservation GIS conferences in the world, Esri and SCGIS, and join in a very tight-knit community of comrades in specialized 2-week training courses before these conferences.  Local travel and accommodations will be simple and plain so that we can afford to include as many people as possible, and you may be asked to pay for some of these costs.  These support grants are PARTIAL in that you contribute some of the costs yourself, and you will be expected to do a lot of work as a scholar.  These grants are competitive in that your application will be considered in comparison to others, evaluating your work, your activism with NGO's and the conservation GIS community in your region, your needs, and your resources in relation to the environmental and economic issues of your region or country.  If our resources permit, these grants will also include software, books, and refurbished hardware, depending on your needs.   Specific amounts of funding available for this year’s program haven’t been clarified yet, therefore the number of people that we will be able to award this time is not determined yet, but we expect that there will be a strong competition between the applications regardless of the program size decisions, so please study these guidelines and work hard to make sure your chances of selection are good.
 
In 2012, we are offering GIS training in Davis, California on July 2-13.  The training will focus on the Esri suite of GIS software. The course modules will cover material ranging from introductory to some advanced GIS analysis in conservation applications, and will be taught by professional GIS instructors. Besides course modules, the instructors will work with each scholar individually on their specific GIS projects (please see details below in the instructions).
 
After the training, the group of SCGIS scholarship awardees will attend two GIS conferences: the 15th SCGIS Annual Conference, held on July 19-22 in Monterey, California, and the 32nd Esri International User Conference held on July 23-27 in San Diego, California.
 
The Esri UC is the largest GIS event in the world. Last year’s conference brought together over 13,000 attendees from all over the world, providing an opportunity for GIS practitioners of all levels and backgrounds to meet, network, and learn about the most recent developments in GIS technology. The Conservation track at the conference is getting bigger each year, attracting many conservation GIS practitioners. The SCGIS Annual Conference is attended by approximately 100–200 conservation GIS practitioners, providing a convenient venue for the attendees to meet and discuss GIS application in the field of conservation. 
 
In addition to the events above, we are trying to make arrangements for the group to attend the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) North America Congress held on July 15-18 in Oakland, California.
The SCB professional focus is not directly oriented to geographic information systems, but it is a prominent conservation organization whose strategic goals and approaches overlap with those at the SCGIS in many ways, and the cooperation between SCGIS and SCB has over the years brought countless mutual benefits to both GIS professionals and biologists.  If we are unable to provide attendance at this conference (which is largely a financial issue), we will extend the training through July 18.
 
 (SCGIS is an independent all-volunteer international society supported by membership donations and grants from Esri, Juniper GIS, University of California Davis, and other foundations, partners, and vendors)