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IWSG Small Projects Grants

Since 2016, the International Wader Study Group annually funds small projects.The IWSG Small Projects Grants aim to support shorebird studies that otherwise will not go ahead. This could be all sorts of projects related to waders (shorebirds): ecological and/or conservation research, pilot studies looking at biological aspects of a single or a few species, or counts of staging birds at unexplored sites. Or something completely different! Application is open for IWSG members who have a project idea that could be undertaken if supported with a small amount of money (currently 1500 Euros per project).

In the below link you can find a description of criteria and the application form. The IWSG Executive Committee has appointed an evaluation committee that will judge the applications, and decide which project will be awarded.

The call for 2025 (field work 2026) is open. Please note, deadline has been extended to 31st December 2025.

Applications should be submitted by 1st December (2025, extended to 31st December) of each year, and a decision will be made before 1st May the following year.

 

Application form IWSG Small Project Grants Call

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The 2023 IWSG Small Grant winner

We are happy to announce the latest winner of the 2024 IWSG Small Projects Grant, Juan Andres Milicich.

In a very strong field of applications, we thought thi stood out. His project “Unveiling Migration Patterns: A First Insight into the Breeding and Wintering Movements of the Andean Lapwing Vanellus resplendens in Northern Argentina” aims to provide an initial description of several life history strategies of Andean Lapwing, a poorly known shorebird distributed along the Andes of South America. This project hope to learn about their altitudinal migration and breeding and wintering distribution range through the deployment of GPS devices.

Congratulations to Juan!

 

This study will try to unfold our fundamental knowledge gaps about the migratory shorebirds’ abundance, richness, diversity and composition in this region, specifically in three wetland locations; Labuk Bay (Beluran district), Marudu Bay (Kota Marudu district) and Weston Bay (Beaufort district). Furthermore, we want investigate the influence of disturbance and food availability in each locality on migratory shorebirds.”

Congratulations to Dean G. Gangko!

A first Malaysian winner of the grant, adding to a truly global series of projects that we have had the pleasure to support over the years.

Left- Andean Lapwing, 18 Apr. 2025, Campo Alegre, ©Fabricio C. Gorleri. Right- 29 Sep. 2020, Campo Alegre, ©Juan I. Areta

 

The IWSG Small Grant Committee, Yahkat Barshep, Birgita Hansen, Nils Warnock and Jannik Hansen

Previous winners

2023

  • Dean G. Gangko: Assessing Migratory Shorebirds’ Community and Food Resources in Coastal Wetlands of Sabah, Malaysia

2022

  • Thomas Lameris: Nest associations of egg-predating Ruddy Turnstones
    and chick-predating Arctic Skuas (Varanger Fjord, Norway)

2021

  • Shariful Islam: Comparison of shorebirds prey between coastal mudflats and inland freshwater habitats in Bangladesh

2020

  • Hari Basnet: Breeding Biology of Wood Snipe Gallinago nemoricola in Lamtang National Park, Nepal
  • Sandra Giner & Virginia Sanz: Identification of potential WHSRN sites for the protection of breeding areas of two plovers of conservation concern (C. wilsonia and C. nivosus) in Margarita Island, Venezuela

2019

  • Emmanuel Nii Attram Taye: Breeding ecology and foraging behaviour of Black-winged stilts in Ghana.

2018

  • Thomas Mondain-Monval: Identifying the wintering grounds of Common Sandpipers in the UK using stable isotope analysis.
  • Christian Höfs and Tim van der Meer: Dotterel distribution and site faithfulness in Ammanäs, Sweden.

2017

  • Christoph Himmel: Censusing waders along Southern Azerbaijan coast on the flyway of, for instance, the Central Asian population of Black-tailed Godwits
  • Ralitsa Georgieva: Research of distribution, population size and main treats of breeding waders along Albania seacoast wetlands
  • Sriman Delip Kumar Das: A shorebird expedition to unexplored mudflats of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, an important bird and biodiversity area, Bangladesh

2016

  • Biol. Glenda Hevia and Dr. Verónica D’Amico: A valuation of the impact of human activities on physiological parameters of Two-Banded Plovers (Charadrius falklandicus) breeding at beaches in Northern Patagonia, Argentina.

Details on the previous recipients of the IWSG Small Grants