Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation — Fellowship

The Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation is an annual award from The Pew Charitable Trusts, a research and grantmaking organization founded in 1948 and based in Philadelphia, where protecting marine ecosystems is one of seven focus areas. Each fellow receives $150,000 over three years to complete an original research project that produces new data, knowledge, or methods for protecting and sustainably using the world’s oceans. Recipients are midcareer natural and social scientists, plus experts from engineering and other technical fields, who work at universities, research institutions, or conservation organizations anywhere in the world.

Fellows stay in their own posts and run the project from their home institution while joining a network of more than 200 alumni. Recent classes are small: seven fellows in 2026 and six in 2025, based in countries and territories from Thailand and Japan to Curaçao and South Africa.

Benefits & funding

$150,000 per fellow, allocated over three years.
A self-designed three-year research project, carried out from the fellow’s home institution.
Grant management support from Pew staff.
Outreach support to raise the visibility of the research.
Training on turning research into conservation and policy impact, with a free handbook published under a Creative Commons license.
Meetings and events each year with current fellows and an alumni network of more than 200 marine scientists.
Two named awards sit inside the program: the Pew-Gerstner Fellowship in Ocean Plastics Research and the Pew-Hoover Fellowship in Marine and Biomedical Science.

Eligibility

Midcareer natural and social scientists from any country, with research experience, advanced degrees, and a strong record of achievement.
Candidates from engineering and other technical fields are considered when their credentials are relevant to marine conservation.
Candidates normally work at a university, a research institution, or a conservation organization.
Consideration is by nomination only. Pew invites a group of marine science and conservation experts each year to put forward candidates, and only invited nominees may apply.
Legal analysts, lobbyists, and employed journalists are not eligible.
Full-time doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows are not eligible. Midcareer professionals studying part time may qualify.
Residents of countries that have no diplomatic relations with the United States are not eligible, and neither are residents who cannot take part in US financial transactions.
One fellowship per person, however many times someone is nominated.
No age limit and no fixed number of years of experience are published.

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Master · PhD

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Application process

1
Note that there is no public application route. Unsolicited applications are not accepted.
2
Pew selects a group of marine science and conservation experts each year and asks them to nominate outstanding people working on ocean conservation.
3
Pew invites qualified nominees to apply, submitting their credentials and a proposal for a three-year research project.
4
An independent international selection committee, drawn from a range of regions and subject areas, reviews the applications and recommends the fellows.
5
Pew announces the new class publicly. The 2025 and 2026 classes were both announced in March.
6
Questions about the program go to marinefellows@pewtrusts.org.

Program timeline

Class of six 2025 fellows announced
Mar 26, 2025
Class of seven 2026 fellows announced, including the first Pew-Gerstner fellow
Mar 11, 2026
Each year
Pew invites nominators, invited nominees submit applications, and an international committee selects the class. No public application deadline is published.