The prestigious Meryl Williams Fellowship is funded by ACIAR and supports female international agricultural researchers and scientists across the Indo-Pacific to improve their leadership and management skills. The Fellowship contributes to more productive and secure food systems in developing countries by providing women with greater access to resources and decision making.
Over the next three years, forty women will complete the Meryl Williams Fellowship that includes executive leadership workshops, mentoring, network building and professional development. The Fellows have been selected to take part because of their commitment to positively impacting agricultural development, their research excellence and their demonstrated capacity for leadership and innovation.
In addition to working with individual women, the Meryl Williams Fellowship program supports the institutions that they work in to identify and address systemic barriers to women’s advancement.
A critical component of the Meryl Williams Fellowships is a mentoring support program, where every Fellow is paired with an experienced mentor in her home country to provide support and guidance as they build management, leadership and professional skills.
The program is delivered by the GEAReD team and UNE who have proven success in delivering learning that has a tangible impact for agricultural research scientists and women from developing countries.
Funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the prestigious Meryl Williams Fellowship provides an immersive leadership program, mentoring and professional development opportunities, designed to enhance leadership skills, opportunities and pathways for women in the agricultural research and development sector.
By becoming a Meryl Williams Fellow you will:
- Empower yourself to grow personally and professionally.
- Increase your ability to create a lasting impact in the agriculture sector.
- Equip yourself with the leadership and management tools and skills to navigate and influence change.
- Enhance your capacity to handle workplace barriers, exercise leadership skills and succeed.
- Increase your professional skill set through professional development activities tailored to your personal needs.
- Expand your network and receive support from experienced mentors in Australia and your home country.
- Enrich your life skills, self-confidence, and develop self-awareness.
- Achieve an expanded worldview and greater life experience.
Eligibility
Applicants for the 2021IntakeMeryl Williams Fellowships must meet the following requirements:
- Be a woman who is a citizen or permanent resident ofone of the following countries:The Philippines, Nepal, Myanmar, Mongolia, Timor Leste, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, Tuvalu andThe Solomon Islands.
- Be employed in the agriculture research and development sector. This might be as a scientist in an agriculture research and development institute or university. Or it might be as a position that has responsibility for research administration or policy and strategy development, within a research institution or a government departmentor other agency that has responsibility for managing or overseeing agriculture research and development.
- Have at least a Bachelor degree in a subject relevant to agriculture research and development plus at least 2 years professional experience after yourmost recent qualification. Applicants with Masters or PhD are particularly encouraged to apply.
- Be able to demonstrate that you have management and leadership potential and that you will be able to apply the skills you develop to have impact in the agriculture research and development sector.
- Be committed to and available to participate in all activities in the Fellowship program.
- Provide proof that your employer supports your participation in the Fellowship program and that they will release you from employment duties to participate in all the program activities
Application Process
- Applications for the 2021Intake of Meryl Williams Fellowships are open from 1stMay 2020.
- Closing date for applications is 31stJuly 2020.
- There are 3 forms that you need to submit in order to apply for the Meryl Williams Fellowship. Theseare set out below. Each from will beavailable via the “Become A Fellow”page of the GEAReD websitefrom the date the applications open: https://www.geared.global/become-a-fellow
For more information, please visit Official Website.
