Scholarships & Grants - How to Apply

Applications for 2024 are now closed. Thank you to all the applicants that participated. To see the full list of all the amazing award winners go to you can go to our press release.

Important Information: Read First!

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2024 applications are open. They will close November 15, except for the Undergraduate Marine Research Internship, which closes on January 15, 2024 at 5:00 pm New York time.

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All applications require two letters of recommendation from individuals who can comment on your ability to complete the proposed project or training. Details about the letters of recommendation are provided on the application form.

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No applications or letters of recommendation will be accepted after the deadline. If the recommendations are not submitted by the deadline, the application will not be considered. No exceptions. Please request the letters of recommendation early, and please follow up with your recommenders. Instructions for the letters of recommendation are provided on the application form.

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Awards will be announced February 1, 2024, and the awards will be made in March 2024.

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PLEASE DO NOT APPLY IF YOU NEED THE SCHOLARSHIP OR TRAINING GRANT BEFORE MARCH 2024.

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The scholarship or training grant must be used within 18 months of the date of the award (August 31, 2025). Please do not apply if you cannot complete the research project or dive training within 18 months of receiving the award, i.e., by August 31, 2025.

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At the completion of the project or training, a report detailing how the funds were used must be submitted online.

How To Apply

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The application process is online.

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Please use this link (or copy/paste this URL to your browser:https://www.grantinterface.com/Home/Logon?urlkey=wdhf) to register and login to the online application process on or after September 15, 2023. You will be required to complete an eligibility form. Your responses to the questions will determine your eligibility for WDHOF scholarships and training grants, and you will be directed to a list of scholarships/grants for which you are eligible to apply.

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You may only apply for ONE scholarship or ONE training grant.

Eligibility

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Full descriptions of the scholarships and grants can be found by clicking on the hyperlinks in the list below.

Scholarships and training grants for women only:

Scholarships and training grants for women and men:

What should I apply for?

What are you interested in?

Basic Diver Training

Basic Diver Training is the first step to becoming scuba certificated. You learn to be confident in the water, assemble and use scuba gear, manage buoyancy, and how to handle common problems.

Advanced Diver Training

Advanced Diver Training is a way to further your scuba diving skills and learn new ones like navigation, deeper diving, night and low visibility diving, and several other advanced diving options.

Diver Medical Education

DMT training programs provide focused didactic and practical training that addresses recognition, stabilization and treatment of decompression and other diving-related injuries.

Hard Hat Training

A commercial diver is the most common type of professional diver that works for pay. There are a number of different types of commercial divers but the most common is the offshore diver working in the oil and gas industry. Commercial divers are extremely skilled professionals. They often work in dangerous circumstances and require the proper training and certification necessary to meet regulations of the local authority.

Marine Research

Marine Research takes an in-depth look at the water environments (fresh and saltwater), the underwater ecology, food chains, habitats, coral reefs, kelp, and basic oceanography. You’ll also learn about a variety of marine animals including fish, mollusks, invertebrates, mammals, and dangerous animals.

Marine Conservation

Marine conservation is the protection of marine species and ecosystems in oceans and seas worldwide. It involves not only protection and restoration of species, populations, and habitats but also mitigating human activities such as overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution, whaling and other issues that impact marine life and habitats.

Sea Turtle Conservation

6 of 7 species of sea turtles are endangered or at risk of becoming endangered! It is currently estimated that only 1 in 10,000 baby sea turtles will make it to adulthood. The natural obstacles faced by young and adult sea turtles are staggering, but it is the increasing threats caused by humans that are driving them to extinction.

Extreme Environment Human Physiology

The study of the human body, how it responds to different conditions, and to the situations that can arise during sea and space exploration. Scientists use these findings to develop and test countermeasures that can reduce or reverse the potentially harmful impacts of these extreme environments

Underwater Archaeology

Underwater Archaeology is the systematic documentation and recovery of information from submerged artifacts and underwater sites for the interpretation of past human cultures. Artifacts and sites, the locations of past human activity, possess information about human behavior in both the nature of the objects and in their exact distribution on or under the seafloor.

Journalism, Graphic Arts, Photography, Videography

Learning advanced skills in areas that will enhance works that are designed for or performed in an underwater environment. There are several categories of the arts such as photography, journalism, videography, and graphic arts. These allow the diver to learn the necessary skills to create beautiful and meaningful underwater content that can be used for any variety of distribution.