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Funding and Awards

PhD Studentships

HGCA PhD students

This year's PhD students at the HGCA PhD symposium

HGCA is actively involved in raising the profile of agricultural R&D within the young science community.  The first organised suite of PhD projects were funding in 2002 and funding has currently been secured to enable HGCA to support PhD projects up to 2011.

HGCA is currently supporting 25 PhD projects, including 8 BBSRC CASE studentships (Cooperative Awards in Science & Engineering - these have industrial support alongside HGCA & BBSRC funding).  The range of projects is wide and covers aspects of research from crop production to human and animal nutrition.

Details of each current project can be found by clicking on the title-link below.  We encourage all post-graduate students to give presentations or posters at an annual student symposium arranged by HGCA staff and attended by all current students; this is usually in the spring.  This meeting is a good way for HGCA students to get together and discuss their projects.  Further meetings are also conducted with the student, University supervisor and HGCA supervisor to discuss progress. 

Students are encouraged to join the HGCA e-clubs e.g. Crop Research News, in order to be aware of forthcoming HGCA events and publications.  Students are also invited to other appropriate events e.g. relevant meetings, field days, R&D Conference etc.

At the end of the project each student is required to provide HGCA with an electronic copy of their thesis but this will not be published or feature on the HGCA website.  Instead students are required to submit a 'farmer friendly' extended abstract putting their research into an applied context, which will go on the HGCA website.  Where considered necessary information will be used at HGCA events and Topic Sheets may also be produced.

Application form and guidance notes

PhD project application form  (79kb)

Guidelines to management of PhD projects  (23kb)

PhD summary report guidelines  (29kb)

PhDs in progress

Started in 2004/05

Started in 2006/07

Starting in 2008 / 09

Summary reports of completed projects

HGCA-funded PhD student wins award

Libby Pirie was awarded the British Crop Production Council (BCPC) prize for the best poster by a postgraduate at the BCPC Crop Science and Technology Congress 2005. 
For more details click here.