Scholarships and Prizes

Each year we award prizes, grants and scholarships to students in the school. For example, small travel grants are offered to support field trips or to attend meetings. Several scholarships are available to cover research project costs, some of these are specific to certain types of projects (e.g., related to the environment), and others are open to all.

Prizes are awarded to recognize outstanding students and will be awarded to students in all levels of study. Although the prize money is relatively modest, the awards are great for adding to a CV.

Recent recipients

Rosanne Broyd

Rosanne Broyd, a level 3 undergraduate studying conservation biology, won a £650 scholarship to support a research trip to North America. Rosie will investigate plant traits and plant community composition ten years after wildfires in boreal peatlands. She will work with a team from the University of Guelph and Professor David Robinson in SBS.

The Sir Maitland Mackie scholarship recognizes the importance of her project for rural land use and the environment; an understanding of carbon storage in peatlands is crucial for climate change science and understanding how plant communities recover from wildfire is also important for many boreal systems.

Rosie is pictured here in Jasper, Alberta.

Peter Horvarth

Peter Horvath, a student in our MSc Ecology and Environmental Sustainability, won a £500 scholarship to support his project work in Scotland.

Peter is investigating the risks of wind turbines to hen harriers in Perthshire. He is working with staff in the school and the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds).

This endowed scholarship recognizes outstanding postgraduate student research projects that are related to the environment.

Peter is pictured here at the Griffin wind farm in Perthshire.

Laura Young

Laura is on our MSc Environmental Science programme and won a £500 scholarship to support her research.

In her research project she is investigating the impacts of applying the residues from a biomass burner as fertiliser on grazing land.

The residues can be beneficial as they enrich the soil in phosphorous and potassium and raise the pH, however, they can also be toxic to the animals that graze the field and affect seed germination rates.

Here she is preparing to take soil pore water samples from a greenhouse experiment.