Rapid evolution

Making an international application as a PhD student

The Leakey Foundation is a California-based not-for-profit organisation that funds research related to human origins and evolution. Its grants offer doctoral students up to $15,000 (€12,500), rising to $25,000 for postdoctoral or senior researchers, to cover essential research expenses. The foundation issues a call twice a year, with the next deadlines on 10 January and 15 July 2021. 

Grants tend to fall into two categories: palaeoanthropology, including fossil excavations; and behavioural studies, investigating all aspects of primate behaviour. Matilda Brindle, a PhD student at University College London, won $14,700 for a project whose unlikely focus is monkey masturbation.