Call for Graduate Student Applications: Student Travel Awards for Field Station Research in Chile

1. Coastal Marine Research Station (Las Cruces)

The Coastal Marine Research Station (ECIM) is located in Las Cruces, on the coast of central Chile, 120 kilometers west of Santiago. A research and teaching laboratory, ECIM has an associated Marine Protected Coastal Area where researchers study the resources and conservation of the coastline and seabed ecosystem. While coastal marine ecology, sustainable management, and conservation are the core research fields at ECIM, there is also active interdisciplinary research in microbiology, population genetics, biological and physical oceanography, coastal engineering, marine renewable energies, and other fields of marine sciences.

Research opportunities include:

• Larval recruitment and dispersion
• Reproductive ecology
• Species interactions
• Marine reserves and territorial rights fisheries
• Ecosystem services
• Physical oceanology
• Subtidal ecology
• Eco-physiology

Research apprentices and foreign thesis experiences are offered to graduate students looking to lead original, structured research on a selected topic. Apprentices are expected to participate in a broad array of research activities derived from ongoing studies that tackle diverse sets of problems, with the majority of their time focused on developing a semi-independent research project guided by an ECIM investigator. At the end of the apprenticeship, students present their research in a short oral presentation and write a scientific paper describing their work; joint publications with the ECIM investigator can also be sought. 

Use this link to see ECIM’s researchers and their areas of specialization.

Apprentices are expected to live at ECIM for three months. Housing is available, with each multiple occupancy dormitory (max. four people) having its own bathroom. 

2. Local Development, Education, and Interculturality Center (Villarrica) 

To live and perform research here, at least B2-level Spanish is highly recommended.

The UC Local Development, Education, and Interculturality Center (CEDEL) - located on UC’s Villarrica campus in southern Chile, 760 km from Santiago - is oriented toward research, development, and local dissemination around four lines of action: 

• Sustainability of social-ecological systems, aiming to contribute to the knowledge of species, communities, and ecosystems particularly associated with the temperate forest of central-southern Chile, as well as the intercultural practices, meanings, and complexities that are part of these systems.
• The development of strategies, innovation, and training aimed at sustainable tourism and local, inclusive economic development of the south-central area of Chile.
• Sustainable territorial planning, governance, and public policy for development of the south-central area of Chile.
• Education for sustainability through the involvement of individuals and communities in formal and non-formal education.

These four areas of study are made possible through the interdisciplinary, collaborative work of experts from the UC Villarrica Campus and the Schools of Agronomy and Forest Engineering; Architecture, Design and Urban Studies; History, Geography and Political Science; Social Sciences; and Medicine.

Use this link to review CEDEL’s list of researchers and the work they perform.

CEDEL does not have on-campus lodging; our partners at UC can work with each accepted student to identify the most appropriate living situation for that student.

3. Cape Horn International Center (Puerto Williams)

The Cape Horn International Center (CHIC) is located in the town of Puerto Williams in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, in the region of Magallanes, in the extreme south of Chile (3,700 km from Santiago). This pristine “natural laboratory” supports the study of climate change and various biocultural phenomena. CHIC researchers study and monitor how subantarctic ecosystems respond to climate change, applying a novel biocultural approach that integrates science, education, anthropology, and environmental ethics.

The Center’s objective is to design and evaluate socio-environmental policies, sustainable economic activities, educational methodologies linked to conservation, biocultural heritage, and management plans for the southernmost marine and terrestrial protected areas of the continent. Its three lines of research include:

• Terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems, including peatlands, forests, algae, and insects, and how they are responding to climate change; as well as biodiversity, taxonomy, and genomics.
• Homogenization of biotas, diversity, animal studies (native birds, and invasive species such as mink and beaver), as well as cultural anthropology, philosophy, and biocultural ethics.
• Environmental, economic, and social sustainability through research, design of materials, and concrete proposals in education and sustainable tourism. 

Use this link to review the list of researchers at CHIC and the work they perform.

Students will stay at the Puerto Williams Field Station, which has shared rooms for a maximum of four people each.