About the scholarships
Fisheries New Zealand in collaboration with the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) offer scholarships to both Masters and undergraduate students.
2025 Masters Scholarships in Quantitative Fisheries Science
Scholarships are available for Masters students in the field of quantitative marine science, particularly stock assessment modelling or ecosystem modelling.
We encourage you to apply if you have a major or minor in mathematics, statistics, computing, or biology. Applicants with a strong quantitative (particularly applied statistics) or computer programming background, combined with marine biology, will be favoured.
2025 Undergraduate Scholarships in Quantitative Marine Biology
Scholarships are available for undergraduate students interested in an Honours year or doing a double-major in:
- biology or marine biology, with
- mathematics, computing, or statistics.
Applications with a strong quantitative background (such as statistics) will be favoured.
Scholarship value
Masters scholarship – $20,000 per year for up to 2 years.
Undergraduate scholarships – $5,000 for your final year of undergraduate study.
Check if you are eligible to apply
To apply for either scholarship, you must:
- be a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident
- undertake full-time study in New Zealand (with the possibility of some coursework through an Australian university)
- let Fisheries New Zealand know if you hold other scholarships (you're encouraged to apply for additional scholarships that cover fees).
The 2025 Masters scholarships
Applications for the 2025 academic year will be accepted from 10 October 2024.
To apply, you must:
- have been eligible to do a Master of Science (MSc) at any New Zealand university
- have had a suitable university supervisor and NIWA or Fisheries New Zealand technical advisor before stage 2 (a potential university supervisor is desirable but not necessary for stage 1)
- be starting study within 6 months of getting a scholarship.
How to apply
Read the information sheet before you start.
Masters scholarship information sheet [PDF, 594 KB]
Stage 1
Prepare the following information and send to science.officer@mpi.govt.nz
- a current CV
- a cover letter outlining why you are interested in this opportunity
- a copy of your academic transcript
- a list of courses taken with a 10-word to 50-word description of each.
Stage 2
If you are successful in stage 1, we'll invite you to complete part 2 of the application form. You'll need to include a full project proposal.
Download the Masters scholarship application form – part 2 [PDF, 431 KB]
Apply for a 2025 undergraduate scholarship
To apply, you must:
- have completed a minimum of 2 statistics, computer programming or mathematics course at 200-level
- have planned to take or have completed one statistics, computer programming, or mathematics courses, as well as a marine biology course at 300-level.
How to apply
Read the information sheet before you start.
Undergraduate scholarship information sheet [PDF, 584 KB]
Prepare a cover letter including:
- a short description of courses taken
- proposed courses for the next year
- your future goals.
Send your cover letter and CV to science.officer@mpi.govt.nz
Note, there is no application form for undergraduate scholarships.
Closing date
Applications close on 10 November 2024.
Who to contact
If you have questions about these scholarships, email science.officer@mpi.govt.nz
