2025 Trellis Fund Fellowship Program

 

Accepting Applications for the 2025 Cohort from December 12, 2024

Trellis Fund Fellowship Program

2025 Student Application Instructions

The Trellis Fund Fellowship Program (TFFP) is a program led by Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), and supported by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), as part of the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative. The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture (also known as the Horticulture Innovation Lab) is managed by a team at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) within the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Department of Plant Sciences.

The TFFP connects organizations in East Africa, West Africa, South Asia and Central America with U.S.-based graduate students who have agricultural expertise, generating benefits for both the students and the in-country stakeholders. FAMU leads the implementation of the TFFP, annually selecting graduate students from 1890 Land Grant and other Minority Serving Universities in the United States.

Purpose of the TFFP

Small organizations in developing countries identify a horticultural problem facing local farmers and propose a project to the Horticulture Innovation Lab Trellis Fund. The Trellis Fund matches selected organizations with graduate students who have skills relevant to the proposed project. The students then work with the funded organization to help the project connect with information and to reach their goals. In this way, organizations are able to extend new ideas, information, and technologies to their communities, while graduate students gain hands-on experience in international development and applied research. Organizations and graduate students are encouraged to form long-term connections. Trellis Fund projects may address farmer issues related to selecting planting materials and growing media, pest management, reducing post-harvest loss, nutrition, marketing, or data collection and analysis in relation to fruits, vegetables and high-value horticultural crops.

Project Descriptions

Please view the Scopes of Work for 2025 with details on each of the available research internships. For this application cycle, there are projects in the following countries:

Region	Country	Internship Title	Travel Dates
Central America	Guatemala	Promoting technology for horticulture production as adaptation to climate change in Guatemala	June/July 2025
East Africa	Uganda	Development of Extension Materials for Post-Harvest Handling of Selected Vegetables in Uganda. (Trainging Manual) Working Manual	August 10-25, 2025
	Kenya	Enhancing productivity, post-harvest management, and market access of African indigenous vegetables in Kenya.	Late May 2025
	Kenya	The Food Security and Dietary Quality on Cowpea-Producing Households in Makueni County: Effect of ICT	May-June 2025
South Asia	Nepal	Graduate Research Internship 2025 in YUVA Project	April/May 2025
	Nepal	Postharvest Handling in Major Horticultural Crops	August 2025
	Nepal	Molecular Plant Pathology and Molecular Biology Internship	May-June 2025
	Bangladesh	Quality Planting Materials and Growing Media for Urban Horticultural development	August 2025
West Africa	Nigeria	Advancing Indigenous Fruit and Vegetable Production Through Climate-Smart Approaches in Nigeria	April 2025
	Ghana	Graduate Research Intern - AIFVs Awareness Creation and Communication	May-July 2025
	Ghana	Graduate Research Intern-AIFVs Database Creation and Socio-Cultural Analysis	June 2025

 

 

Eligibility

Graduate students in good standing, including international students, from the 1890 Land Grant and other Minority Serving Universities in the United States are invited to participate. In addition, you will need to be considered a student by your university throughout your involvement in the project.

Obligations

• Complete the required Online Study Program from February 17-March 28, 2025
• Coordinate a work plan with your host organization in advance of travel and conduct necessary background research
• Consult with your host organization via email and other electronic methods remotely before and after travel (for a minimum total of 100 hours)
• Travel to country of host organization and complete fieldwork activities (2 weeks)
• Submit monthly written reports to Trellis Fund Fellowship Program at Florida A&M University (simple updates on your activities during the period, including recording your hours contributed)
• Upon completion of the 14-day field work, submit a final report on your research activity to the host country organization and the Trellis Fund Fellowship Program at Florida A&M University
• Submit scanned copies of all receipts (airline, lodging, U.S. ground transport) to Trellis Fund Fellowship Program at Florida A&M University
• Complete an exit survey/interview

The Trellis Study program

The Trellis Study program is a six-week online program delivered from (February 17-March 28, 2025). The students selected will work at his/her own pace during the six-week period. The program is intended to prepare students for their projects and provides useful background information and practical tools for success.  Topics may include survey design and implementation, communicating with your organization, developing extension materials, gender and development, and marketing strategies, The Study Program will take place virtually via Canvas with Zoom links to each module.

Selection

U.S. graduate students will be selected based on how well their expertise reflects the needs of the funded projects, as well as whether this would also be a good opportunity for the student to grow. The announcement of students selected will be on January 27, 2025.

Application Instructions and Components

Please submit a personal statement and resume for each of the Trellis Fund projects you want to apply for.  You may apply for up to two projects (please indicate your preferences 1or 2 when you apply).  You can view individual projects and access the online application with instructions for uploading your application documents here: 

If applying for more than one project, please apply to each project separately by submitting a customized personal statement for each project.  When you apply through our online application system, please indicate your project preference (with preference 1 being your first-choice project).

Trellis Fund Fellowship Timeline

 

April 1, 2024	Student applications open
December 12, 2024	Student applications close
January 27, 2025	Student selections announced
February 17-March 28, 2025	Six-week study program
April 1-May 9, 2025	Pre-travel virtual research collaboration with in-country project staff
May 16-August 31, 2025	14-day in-country capstone experience consistent with scope of work description

 

If you have any questions about the application process or if you would like to browse past Trellis projects please visit http://horticulture.ucdavis.edu/main/trellis.html, or contact us at trellisfellowship@famu.edu or (850) 599-8867.

Sincerely,

 

The Trellis Fund Fellowship Team

trellisfellowship@famu.edu

 

TFFP-2025 Fillable Application

2024 TRELLIS FUND FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

This program is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture-funded Trellis Fund Program and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the U.S. Government.