Apply to Conduct Research

Interested in research at the Yale Forests?

Step 1. Get in touch with us. 

Before submitting an application, please contact the Research & Extension Forester (YMFResearch@yale.edu) about your intended proposal. 

We can provide information about possible suitable sites for your project, researcher guidelines, camp and lab facilities, and logistics of working at the Yale Forests. 

Step 2. Submit a proposal.

All researchers must submit a research proposal through our online Research Application Form before getting started with any field work. Do not start work without telling us! Submitting a proposal is the only way we can ensure there is not a conflict between different projects and management, and we need to know who is working on the forest, so that we can notify folks in case of emergencies, and during hunting season.

We welcome proposals from researchers - including students - across Yale, and from other universities and organizations.

Applications are reviewed by the Yale Forest Research Committee and must be approved prior to beginning any project. This review make take up to two weeks.

Step 3. Keep in touch.

Before you begin fieldwork, please sign and submit a research waiver.

While you are conducting fieldwork, please let us know if you encounter any issues with other users, neighbors, or camp or lab infrastructure. Similarly, if you observe anything notable while in the woods (trash, an interesting organism, or artifact), we’d like to hear about it.

An annual research update is requred of all ongoing projects. You will recieve an email in January of each year with a link to the survey. 

Please notify us when you complete your project. If you had installed any materials at research sites or left supplies or samples at Yale Myers Camp or Lab, you must remove all supplies the conclusion of the project.

Finally, let us know when you publish on any results. Even if it has been many years since you finished field data collection, we like to read the papers resulting from Yale Forests, and we’ll add it to our publications list.