Sayam Chowdhury is the Principal Investigator of the Bangladesh Spoon-billed Sandpiper (SBS) Conservation Project (Darwin#19-012) and the national representative of the SBS Task Force of the East-Asian Australasian Flyway (EAAF) partnership. The partners in this international effort recognise Sayam as an outstanding young talent. This fellowship will help Sayam achieve an Applied Ecology and Conservation MSc at the University of East Anglia and build his research and organisational development capacity with RSPB, British Trust for Ornithology and BirdLife International support. Post fellowship, Sayam will continue to protect EAAF shorebirds, mentor local conservationists and establish a conservation NGO in Bangladesh.