Young white female in lab coat and stethoscope around neck kneels down in indoor pig pen, surrounded by 8 young white pigs Young white female in lab coat and stethoscope around neck kneels down in indoor pig pen, surrounded by 8 young white pigs

2024 FFAR Veterinary Student Research Fellowship

Open Opportunity

Contact

Nikki Dutta
ndutta@foundationfar.org

Grants Team
grants@foundationfar.org

The program is not accepting applications at this time.

About the 2024 FFAR Veterinary Student Research Fellowship

The United States is facing a shortage of livestock and poultry veterinarians. Food animal veterinarians are vital to maintaining a safe U.S. food supply and play a critical role in protecting public health. According to a recent report, only 3%-4% of new veterinary graduates have entered food animal-related practices over the last 20 years, a 40% reduction from about 40 years ago. With many current food animal practitioners approaching retirement, the U.S. needs more veterinarians with experience in medicine, animal sciences and public health to solve critical food and agriculture challenges.

To support the development of future veterinary researchers, the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) established the Veterinary Student Research Fellowships (FFAR Vet Fellows) in 2018. The program is accepting applications for the 2024 cohort.

Veterinary research is critical to solving challenges affecting nutritional security, environmental sustainability and public health. However, most fellowships available to veterinary students are limited to traditional biomedical research, with limited opportunity to conduct research outside that scope. To ensure students are aware of the numerous opportunities for veterinarians, FFAR and AAVMC established the FFAR Vet Fellows to support veterinary student research ranging from climate change to pandemic prevention. The fellowship is providing a $10,000 stipend for up to 15 students to perform research that prepares them for multi-faceted careers in science and public service. The fellows complete their research with a qualified mentor and present their findings at the annual Veterinary Scholars Symposium.

Research Topics Supported
The FFAR Vet Fellows program will support both quantitative and qualitative student research including, but not limited, to the following:

  • Agricultural economics, socioeconomics, spatial analysis and computational modeling
  • Nutritional security and food access
  • Environmental sustainability of agriculture
  • Advanced technologies including gene-editing, precision breeding and microbiome/metagenomics in food production
  • Zoonotic diseases and pandemic prevention (must have a food and agriculture interface)
  • Antimicrobial stewardship (must have a food and agriculture interface)

The fellowship is open to domestic and international students currently enrolled in a DVM or VMD degree program who are conducting research with a qualified mentor at an AAVMC member institution. Students do not need to have prior research experience, and matching funds are not required for this program. Students from historically underrepresented backgrounds in agriculture are strongly encouraged to apply.

The fellowship application period opens Thursday, February 15, and closes March 27, 2024. Each application must include a letter of support from a program director.

Application Guidelines

Am I eligible to apply?

The program is open to domestic and international students currently enrolled in a DVM or VMD degree program conducting research with a qualified mentor at an AAVMC member institution.

Ineligible Students
Students currently enrolled in or who have completed an advanced research degree such as an MS, PhD or MPH are not eligible for consideration. FFAR and AAVMC strongly encourage applications from students without prior research experience.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
FFAR and AAVMC strongly encourage students from historically underrepresented backgrounds in agriculture to apply. For the purposes of this program, FFAR will use AAVMC’s definition of diversity as encompassing “many dimensions, including, but not limited to gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, cultural background, language, cognitive style, nationality, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, and other forms of differences, both visible and invisible. In defining diversity, it is also incumbent to acknowledge the concept of intersectionality; no single dimension of diversity exists in isolation. We acknowledge that each individual is a reflection of multiple diversity dimensions.

URVM Definition
Historically, AAVMC has identified and recognized the presence of specific historically underrepresented populations in veterinary medicine (URVM) whose advancement in the veterinary medical profession has been disproportionately impacted due to legal, cultural, or social climate impediments in the United States. The specific dimensions are: gender, race, ethnicity (African Americans, Asian Americans, American Indians, Native Alaskans and Hawaiians, and Hispanics), and geographic, socioeconomic, and educational disadvantage.”

Are matching funds required?

Matching funds are optional for this program. Funds will be provided at the start date of the award and must be used specifically for the designated student’s stipend, supplies and participation in the Veterinary Scholars Symposium (including, but not limited to, registration, travel and accommodations). Funds may be used anytime within one year of the project start date; any remaining funds one year later must be returned. Funds will be dispersed directly to the institution of the selected student by AAVMC.

How do I apply?

All applications must be submitted by the deadline date through FFAR’s online application Grant Management System. Applications submitted outside of this System will not be considered. All information provided will be treated as confidential.

A letter of support from the Program Director at the mentor’s
institution will be required as part of the application package. Program Directors are requested to ensure that the applicant(s) is in good academic standing and are integrated into the summer research program at their institution, if awarded. There is no restriction on the number of applicants per institution.

To start a new application, please click here. If you are a new user, register for an account by clicking “Create Account” button located under the email address field on the left side of the home page. Once you log in, you may begin working on your application. Please be sure to save your work often by clicking on “Save and Finish Later.” To access a saved application, please do so through your Grant Management Account.

Only applications submitted by the deadline through FFAR’s Grant Management System will be accepted and considered eligible for evaluation. To be fair to all applicants, FFAR will not grant extensions to applicants who missed the deadlines posted in the Key Dates section.

Whom do I contact for assistance?

For programmatic questions, please contact Nikki Dutta, Scientific Program Officer at ndutta@foundationfar.org.
For questions related to the online submission system, please contact FFAR’s Grant Management team at grants@foundationfar.org.

For questions related to fellowship funds and funding distribution, please contact Brooklind Norman, AAVMC Program Coordinator at BNorman@aavmc.org.

FFAR strives to respond to inquiries within two business days, but our response time depends on the volume of questions received and the complexity of the questions asked.

Please note that we do not monitor mailboxes on evenings, weekends or federal holidays.