Tonolli Fellowship Award
About
The Tonolli Fund of SIL was created in 1985 at the request of Vittorio and Livia Tonolli, well-known limnologists at the Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia in Pallanza, Italy. The purpose of the fund is to assist student (MSc, PhD) limnologists in developing countries. Topics of highest priority for the Tonolli Fund include the following: carbon cycling, biogeochemistry, key nutrients, or other elements known to be important to inland waters; studies of the production of either plant, animal, or microbial biomass and the factors that regulate production; studies of community composition, biodiversity, or factors that regulate these attributes of inland waters; analytical or comparative studies of physical, hydrological, chemical, or biotic processes in all types of inland waters.
Applicants should explain what their hypotheses are, how the proposed work will be carried out, what equipment is available, what methods will be used, what problems might arise and how they will be solved, where the project will be conducted, and who will be available for advising purposes. They should also explain why a particular problem was chosen as a topic of the study, and comment on the importance of the problem for theoretical or applied limnology, and for the student’s country. Applicants should cite at least five internationally published journal articles that they have read and served as inspiration for the work that they are undertaking. The application should be approved and signed by the applicant’s supervisor.
Factors considered during the evaluation process include: the quality of the proposal and the statement of the applicant on research interests, the need for financial support, the written evaluation of two university faculty members or senior research colleagues who know the applicant well.
The award recipient must write and submit a brief scientific report within 9 months of receiving the award, explaining the use of the award, research progress, and an accounting of how the funds were spent. A financial report should be attached, with receipts, detailing how the money was spent. Failure to submit the report means that the award recipient will be ineligible for future awards, and the supervisor of the award recipient will not be able to support future applications. Awardees will be invited to write a brief summary of their research for SILnews. Presentation at the next SIL Congress is encouraged.
Award Value
Awards from the Tonolli Fund generally are in the amount of $1,000 to $1,500.
Project duration
The Tonolli Fund is awarded for projects lasting 1 year.
Deadline
Applications should be submitted by 30 June.
Application Form
Submission
Send applications by e-mail to Michelle Gros at business@limnology.org
The two confidential letters of reference should also be sent directly to this email by the referees.
Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you need to be a paid member of SIL. However, you can pay the membership fee after your application is selected for funding.
The fund cannot be spent on international travel or non-research expenses. Awards are made through institutions, on condition that the institution takes no overhead. Institutes that will take overhead will be excluded from future awards. To avoid paying overhead, the supervisor may receive the student’s money, and both the applicant and supervisor will then be responsible for submitting a signed overview declaring how the funds were spent.
Students who are working toward post-graduate degrees (MSc, PhD) in the field of limnology and are from developing countries (Gross Domestic Product (Gross National Income) per capita of US 25,000 or lower (based on the most recent World Bank list).
The committee will not consider research support for young limnologists who have just received an advanced degree or local limnological projects involving more than one Early Career limnologist. Those who are not SIL members at the time of the application and are not planning to pay the membership fee upon successful application. Students from countries that do not qualify for developing country fees. Those who failed to submit the scientific and financial report of a previously funded project. Supervisors of past award recipients who failed to submit the reports cannot support future applications. Institutes that took overhead from previous awardees are excluded from future awards.
Award recipients will be announced on the Tonolli Award page of the SIL website.
It can be a past or current supervisor, mentor, teacher or collaborator who knows the applicant personally from a professional context and can attest to the applicant’s skills and abilities. It cannot be the person who serves as the supervisor on the application.
Rules for the Administration of the Vittorio Tonolli Memorial Fund
- The objectives of the Vittorio Tonolli Memorial Fund are to perpetuate the memory of Vittorio Tonolli by assisting young limnologists of developing countries in the acquisition of limnological experience.
- The Vittorio Tonolli Memorial Fund is administered by the Vittorio Tonolli Memorial Committee according to the following rules adopted by the SIL.
- Interest earnings of the fund shall be dispersed to deserving individuals as recommended by the consensus of the Committee under working guidelines for the use of the fund.
- The Vittorio Tonolli Memorial Committee shall consist of five members, two of which shall be the President and General Secretary of the SIL, who shall act as Chairperson and Secretary, respectively, of the Committee. The International Committee shall elect the three other members. The elected members shall represent three different countries, other than those (that) represented by the Chairperson and the Secretary. An Italian member of SIL shall always be represented on the Tonolli Memorial Committee. Reelection of members is permissible.
- The Committee shall decide by vote, three members forming a quorum. If voting is even, the Chairperson shall have the deciding vote. Voting may be by correspondence.
- In the case of dissolution of the SIL, the last General Assembly shall decide the future use of the Vittorio Tonolli Memorial Fund.
