Fellows Program

The Center for Collaborative Conservation’s Fellows Program provides funding, training, and a community of practice for a cohort of students, faculty, and practitioners. Fellows work on collaborative projects to help communities improve their livelihoods and achieve conservation goals. Our growing network of Fellows stays connected to the CCC and their cohort during and after the fellowship for lifelong friendship and learning. For a comprehensive view of our program, check out our CCC Fellows Program 10-year review: Assessment of impacts.

Becoming a Fellow

The Fellows Program is for those interested in conservation at any stage of their careers– including graduate students, mid-career professionals, academics, or experienced practitioners. The program builds the capacity of Fellows as collaborative conservation leaders through experiential projects, creating a learning community with current and past Fellows, and through training and mentoring.

Past Fellows projects have included:

Working with stakeholders to do conservation projects, including restoration, conservation research, social science research, citizen science, and education projects.
Projects that build capacity to do conservation work together, such as training, planning, or creating tools like an app or website.
Convening a diverse group of organizations, agencies, and other stakeholders who work together to tackle conservation issues.

Each year, we accept proposals from September-November in a competitive process.

Collaborative conservation takes a ‘bottom-up’ approach that accounts for locally defined priorities and local perspectives. It seeks to include voices that are often underrepresented or marginalized in decision-making processes and create new, innovative opportunities to collaboratively solve problems.

We seek to increase the diversity and representation of our Fellows and increase collaborative research, education, and practice opportunities for underserved communities. If this sounds like you, consider applying to become a Fellow in 2024!

Questions? Contact our Associate Director of Learning, Allison Brody.

Current Fellows

Cohort 14

$77,750 awarded to 22 Fellows working on 5 projects in Colorado and the Southwest USA, Mexico, Mongolia, and Brazil. Meet the Fellows and read about the projects here.

Cohort 13

$76,000 awarded to 12 Fellows working on 5 projects in Colorado and Montana, USA, Botswana, Cameroon, and Ecuador. Meet the Fellows and read about the projects here.

Recent Fellows

Cohort 12

$67,900 awarded to 10 Fellows working on 5 projects in New Mexico, USA, Tanzania, Colombia, India, and Guatemala. Meet the Fellows and read about the projects here.

Cohort 11

$42,300 awarded to 7 Fellows working on 3 projects in Colorado, Brazil, and Tanzania. Meet the Fellows and read about the projects here.

Cohort 10

$48,000 awarded 6 Fellows working on 4 projects focused on human-carnivore relationships. Meet the Fellows and read about the projects here.

Fellows Training

Our Fellows Program 10-year Review describes how the program trains individuals in collaborative conservation, and how, in the words of one CCC Fellows, ”there is pedagogy and evidence-based best practices for effective collaboration.” To access training materials we have used over the years, see our “how to” resources.

Fellows Products

CCC Fellows have produced over 150 theses, peer-reviewed journal articles, reports, videos and more that provide insight into collaborative conservation general and specific efforts across the globe. Check out the full list here.

Fellows Interactive Directory

Nearly 150 CCC Fellows have worked in 27 countries and 17 Native American nations. See who has done what where by clicking on this interactive map.

Fellows Testimony

95% of CCC Fellows Program alumni reported that their fellow’s project had been useful to them professionally.

96% reported that the Fellows Program had increased the collaborative nature of their project.

80% indicated that both their Fellow’s project and the Fellows Program had improved their ability to work with a diversity of people.

100% indicated that they had worked across cultural, disciplinary, administrative, or linguistic boundaries in their Fellows’ project.

“Being part of the CCC Fellows community was a defining moment in my professional development… Thank you!”

“I feel that the CCC played a really essential role in shaping me as a conservationist.”

“As a graduate fellow who now works in conservation, having a much better grasp on the idea of collaborative conservation has been really important in the way that I now view the world.”

“I never thought of collaboration as something that was teachable because it feels amorphous and ambiguous. The Fellow Program helped me see that there is pedagogy and evidence-based best practices for effective collaboration.”