THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION — grant history
Latest income
£220k
Grants listed (FY2025)
18
Listed grants total
£124k
Accounts grants total
£95k
listed grants do not fully reconcile with the accounts total — list may be partialextracted from its FY2025 accounts
Application guidance — from the funder’s own website
- How to apply: Applications are submitted via downloadable forms with guidelines. The funder does not accept unsolicited applications for general grants; specific schemes like the Summer Placement Scheme require the student to submit the application and be supported by a host organisation.
- Deadlines: The Career Development Bursary deadline for 2027 awards is 30 October 2026. Member Conference Attendance Grants have two annual calls, with the next deadline being 29 May 2026. The Summer Placement Scheme deadline is 30 January 2026.
What changed: FY2024 → FY2025
| Change | Grantee | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| new | Stephanie Harris | — | £20k |
| new | University of Liverpool | — | £20k |
| new | Universidad del Norte, Colombia | — | £20k |
| new | Juan Gómez | — | £20k |
| new | Leone Akhmeteli | — | £3k |
| new | Kimberly Parno | — | £2k |
| new | Abril Marcolongo | — | £2k |
| new | Pablo Andrés Fracas | — | £2k |
| not listed | McGill University | £21k | — |
| not listed | University of East Anglia, UK | £20k | — |
| not listed | University of Oldenburg | £20k | — |
| not listed | University of Cape Town | £20k | — |
| not listed | Wieland Heim (Germany) | £20k | — |
| not listed | Charlie Russell (UK) | £2k | — |
| not listed | Andreia Malpica-Topete (Mexico) | £2k | — |
| not listed | Alice J. Edney (UK) | £2k | — |
Grants made, per its accounts filings
| Recipient | Year | Amount | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stephanie Harris | FY2025 | £20k | Tracking the emergence of foraging culture in a newly forming seabird colony |
| University of Liverpool | FY2025 | £20k | Brenda and Tony Gibbs Award - Stephanie Harris |
| Universidad del Norte, Colombia | FY2025 | £20k | Brenda and Tony Gibbs Award - Juan Gómez |
| Juan Gómez | FY2025 | £20k | Impact of rapid habitat transformation on the resource selection and habitat use in a critically endangered species endemic to the northern Andes in Colombia |
| Monash University | FY2025 | £19k | John & Pat Warham Studentship - Dr Rohan Clarke |
| Leone Akhmeteli | FY2025 | £3k | Flying with the wind: how seasonal wind conditions affect migratory decisions, flight costs and flight range of Eurasian Spoonbills |
| Kimberly Parno | FY2025 | £2k | Evolutionary Origins of Haida Gwaii Distinctive Avifauna |
| Abril Marcolongo | FY2025 | £2k | Conservation genomics of the austral flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis) |
| Pablo Andrés Fracas | FY2025 | £2k | Studying song variation and recognition in a contact zone of divergent lineages of the Southern House Wren Troglodytes musculus. |
| Zsófia Tóth | FY2025 | £2k | Ecological Impacts of Urbanisation: Unraveling the Mechanisms of Hatching Failure in Birds |
| Simón Kraemer | FY2025 | £2k | How does variation in song and pigmentation patterns affect reproductive success in Sporophila Seedeaters? |
| Joshua Wright | FY2025 | £2k | Using paleogenomic analysis of extinct mergansers from the New Zealand region to resolve the evolution of the Mergini subfamily |
| Michiel Lathouwers | FY2025 | £2k | Afro-tropical nightjar activity and occurrence across a gradient of skyglow exposure |
| Evanthia Thanou | FY2025 | £2k | Chicken-wings all year round? The diet of Eleonora’s Falcon may largely rely on bird-prey both during the breeding and the pre-breeding period |
| Fabian Przepióra | FY2025 | £2k | Distribution and activity of Eurasian Woodcock Scolopax rusticola in mountain coniferous woodlands shaped by natural disturbances |
| Paul Dufour | FY2025 | £2k | Investigating Recent Island Colonization by a Partial Migratory Species |
| Jennifer Darby | FY2025 | £2k | Impact of individual loads of endocrine disrupting chemicals on reproductive fitness and breeding success on sand martins (Riparia riparia) |
| Emma Arulanatham | FY2025 | £840 | Testing vocal responsivity, discrimination, and prezygotic isolation between subspecies of an island coloniser (Zosterops lateralis) |
| University of Cape Town | FY2025 | amount not stated | Brenda and Tony Gibbs Award - Arjun Amar |
| University of Oldenburg | FY2025 | amount not stated | Brenda and Tony Gibbs Award - Wieland Heim |
| McGill University | FY2024 | £21k | John & Pat Warham Studentship |
| Monash University | FY2024 | £20k | John & Pat Warham Studentship |
| University of East Anglia, UK | FY2024 | £20k | John & Pat Warham Studentship |
| University of Oldenburg | FY2024 | £20k | Brenda and Tony Gibbs Award |
| University of Cape Town | FY2024 | £20k | Brenda and Tony Gibbs Award |
| Wieland Heim (Germany) | FY2024 | £20k | Brenda and Tony Gibbs Award |
| Charlie Russell (UK) | FY2024 | £2k | Brenda and Tony Gibbs small research award |
| Andreia Malpica-Topete (Mexico) | FY2024 | £2k | Small Ornithological Research Grant |
| Alice J. Edney (UK) | FY2024 | £2k | Small Ornithological Research Grant |
| Stephanie Harris (UK) | FY2024 | £2k | Small Ornithological Research Grant |
| Alper Yelimlieş (Turkey) | FY2024 | £2k | Small Ornithological Research Grant |
| Sophie Harris (UK) | FY2024 | £2k | Small Ornithological Research Grant |
| Eugenia Andrea Bonetti (Argentina) | FY2024 | £2k | Brenda and Tony Gibbs small research award |
| Jason Lacson (USA) | FY2024 | £2k | Small Ornithological Research Grant |
| Simon Evans (UK) | FY2024 | £2k | Small Ornithological Research Grant |
| Alejandro Corregidor-Castro (Spain) | FY2024 | £1k | Small Ornithological Research Grant |
| A/Prof Rohan Clarke | FY2022 | £85k | John and Pat Warham Studentship |
| Stuart Sharp | FY2022 | £20k | Brenda and Tony Gibbs Award |
| Chima Josiah Nwaoga | FY2022 | £3k | Career Development Bursary |
| Anap Isphaku Afan | FY2022 | £2k | Career Development Bursary |
| Kristen Wacker | FY2022 | £2k | Small Ornithological Research Grant |
| Olufemi Oluboden | FY2022 | £2k | Brenda and Tony Gibbs small research award |
| Klara K. Nordén | FY2022 | £2k | Small Ornithological Research Grant |
| Teresa Pegan | FY2022 | £2k | Small Ornithological Research Grant |
| Verónica Méndez Aragón | FY2022 | £2k | Small Ornithological Research Grant |
| Roman Alberto Ruggera | FY2022 | £2k | Small Ornithological Research Grant |
| Michał Jezierski | FY2022 | £2k | Small Ornithological Research Grant |
| University of Tasmania, Australia | FY2021 | £23k | John & Pat Warham Studentship – Paige Green |
| McGill University, Canada | FY2021 | £22k | John & Pat Warham Studentship – Émile Brisson-Curadeau |
| University of Tasmania, Australia | FY2021 | £20k | Brenda & Tony Gibbs Award – Jennifer Lavers |
| Jennifer Lavers | FY2021 | £20k | Lecturer in Marine Science, Institute for Marine & Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, Australia. Investigating carry-over effects of plastic pollution on post-fledging movement and survival of a pelagic seabird. |
| University of East Anglia, UK | FY2021 | £11k | John & Pat Warham Studentship – Kirsty Franklin |
| Jethro George Gauld | FY2021 | £2k | PhD candidate, University of Exeter, UK. Patterns and consequences of parasite infection in a declining long-distance migratory passerine. |
| Fraser Bell | FY2021 | £2k | PhD student, University of East Anglia, UK. Real world trial of new LORA GPS tracking technology, to understand vulture movement behaviour at wind farms, in three dimensions. |
| Josh Arbon | FY2021 | £2k | PhD candidate, University of Exeter, UK. Does pair-bond strength affect parental care strategies? |
| Darren O’Connell | FY2021 | £2k | Postdoctoral Research Associate, University, UK. Birds as monitors of ecosystem restoration: using avian soundscapes for assessing biodiversity and functioning of restored mangrove forests. |
| Jenna McCullough | FY2021 | £2k | PhD student, University of New Mexico, US. Island kingfishers as an emerging model system to study the genomics of speciation. |
| Crinan Jarrett | FY2021 | £2k | PhD candidate, University of Glasgow, UK. Putting a price on the menu: Quantifying bird ecosystem services in African cocoa plantations. |
| Olivia Hicks | FY2021 | £2k | Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chize, France. The energetic trade-off between immunity and foraging complexity. |
| Petra Sumasgutner | FY2021 | £2k | Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Konrad Lorenz Research Centre, Austria. Honest signals and circulating carotenoids in an urban top predator (Common Kestrel). |
| Rohit Naniwadekar | FY2021 | £1k | Researcher, Nature Conservation Foundation, India. Population genetics of the island endemic Narcondam Hornbill Rhyticeros narcondami. |
| Çağla Önsal | FY2021 | £1k | Masters Student, Koç University, Turkey. Multi-modal signalling in noise in the European Robin Erithacus rubecula. |
| Hannah Moon | FY2021 | £1k | PhD student, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA. Molecular drivers of spectral perception in endangered Hawaiian seabirds. |
| Riva Riley | FY2021 | £1k | President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Maryland, USA. Patterns of cooperation in a communally nesting bird, the Palmchat Dulus dominicus. |
| Benjamin Murphy | FY2021 | £1k | PhD candidate, Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, South Africa. Taking the heat: are Drongo’s Dicrurus adsimilis efforts to cool nestlings in hot weather constrained by the necessity of maintaining safe body temperatures? |
| Amanda Bourne | FY2021 | £1k | PhD candidate, Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, South Africa. Do seasonal changes in food resources predict breeding phenology and reproductive success in Southern Pied Babblers Turdoides bicolor? |