Rufford Small Grants for Nature Conservation

The Rufford Foundation

Fieldwork grants of GBP 7,000-18,000 for nature conservation projects in developing countries, aimed at MSc and PhD students and recent graduates. Ghana is an eligible country. Applications are accepted at any time of year, one per 12-month period.

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Eligibility

Who can apply

All nationalities

Education required

Bachelors completed

Fields

Environment, Natural sciences

Residency

The project itself must be in an eligible country; applicants based in advanced economies are only considered where the project is in an eligible country, of high conservation priority, and builds local conservation capacity.

Also required

In the early stages of a conservation career; priority to current MSc or PhD students or those who graduated in the past 3 years
BSc students are not funded
Project must have a nature conservation focus and be located in an eligible country (Ghana is listed)
Species worked on must not be listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, or be unassessed but thought to be globally threatened
Only fieldwork costs are considered; Rufford should ideally provide 50-100% of project costs and requires evidence of co-funding otherwise
Pure research with no obvious conservation benefit, expeditions, conference attendance and book publishing are excluded

About this opportunity

The Rufford Foundation funds small-scale and pilot nature conservation projects in emerging and developing economies, and Ghana is on its list of eligible countries. Funding is staged across four levels: a 1st Rufford Small Grant of up to GBP 7,000, a 2nd Rufford Small Grant of up to GBP 8,000, a Booster Grant of up to GBP 12,000 and a Completion Grant of up to GBP 18,000. You move up a level only after completing the previous project and filing updates and a final report, and once you have taken a Completion Grant you cannot apply for further Rufford funding.

The grants are aimed squarely at people in the early stages of a conservation career. Rufford's stated priority is people doing an MSc or PhD, or who graduated from such studies in the past three years; it does not fund BSc students. Your project must have a nature conservation focus, must be carried out in an eligible country, and any species you work on must not be listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Only fieldwork costs are considered, and Rufford expects to provide between 50 and 100 per cent of the project cost, with evidence of co-funding where it is not the only funder. Pure research with no obvious conservation benefit, expeditions, conference attendance and book publishing are excluded.

There is no deadline. You apply online through the Rufford application portal at any time of year, and you may make only one funding application in any 12-month period; rejected applicants must wait 12 months to reapply. The foundation says it has supported 6,841 projects in 152 countries, so the scheme is a realistic first research grant for a Ghanaian or other African conservation biologist who needs money for field seasons, equipment and community work rather than tuition.

Level

Master's, PhD, Early career

Where

Multiple countries

Duration

Project-based; one funding application permitted in any 12-month period

Difficulty

Medium · about 4 weeks to prepare

What you will need

Project or business proposal

Applications are made on Rufford's online portal after creating an account; the portal holds the application form and the foundation's full criteria. The portal pages read on 11 September 2026 did not enumerate a document checklist beyond the online project application.

Track this application and eStudent360 turns the list into a checklist and, with Plus, a dated plan that works back from the deadline.