HARPER ADAMS UNIVERSITY DEVELOPMENT TRUST

The RASC Undergraduate Scholarship 2018

To attend the Royal Agricultural Society of the Commonwealth Conference in Canada

03 NOVEMBER 2018 - 08 NOVEMBER 2018

Valued at up to £3,000

Background:

The Development Trust has generously allocated two scholarships valued up to £3K each,enabling two final year undergraduate students from Harper Adams University to attend the “Next Generation (NG) event” and the three day conference of the Royal Agricultural Society of the Commonwealth biennial conference which will take place in Edmonton, Canada commencing on Saturday 03 November 2018 and finishing on Thursday 08 November 2018.

More information can be found at

The eligibility criteria set by the Development Trust are that applicants must be UK nationals who are graduating from Harper Adams in September 2018.

All HAU applicants must also be a registered student at the date of application, be expected to complete their degree successfully and be able to graduate in September 2018. Students may also be able to provide evidence that they have the support of their Programme Manager if they are successful in their application.

RASC Conference 03 November- 08 November 2018

The successful applicant must be able to travel to Canada to arrive no later than the early morning of Saturday 3 November 2018and depart on Thursday 8 November 2018. If the scholar wishes to travel earlier than the required date and attend the pre-conference study tour and/or remain in Canada at his/her own cost, or make other travel plans, this can be considered, but the University will only fund flight costs etc. that would have been incurred had the recipient travelled to the conference directly from the UK to arrive and depart on the above dates.

The scholarship will cover the main and NGconference fees, (including meals and social programme where included as part of the conference only) bed and breakfast accommodation at the official conference hotel, and the cost of economy return flights to/from the UK to Canada that are recommended by the University’s travel agents as being best value. Travel insurance will also be funded for the successful participant if the funding available is sufficient to meet this cost once flights, hotel and conference costs have been met.

Please note: The scholarship will not cover personal spending, cost of obtaining a passport/visa or other personal travel documentation required (the latter is the applicant’s responsibility to check/source), or travel to/from a UK airport, or travel to/from Canada airport to the conference. If however the costs listed above do not require use of the full £3K, some modest remaining funds may become available to the scholar to help them with other costs. However please note that the value of any remaining funding cannot be guaranteed until the successful applicant has agreed their specific flight details with the University and their personal travel insurance etc. is in place and funded. Applicants therefore need to confirm that they will be able to meet incidental expenses from their own means.

Further details about the conference, including the programme can be found on the RASC web pages:

The Application Process.

The deadline for all applications is 12pm Noon on Monday 30 April 2018

Please submit the following 3 documents:

  • Full CV
  • Covering Letter
  • Signed Consent Form – this can be found as an attachment with your original email

Full CV

Please submit a full CV including referees that we may contact. Your CV should also include details of any experience of travel that you have had to date, and any examples of your engagement with Agricultural Shows, or with next generation activities, such as Young Farmer’s Clubs or similar.

Covering Letter

Please include a covering letter setting out your reasons for wishing to attend the conference. Please ensure that you cover in your letter, as a minimum, how you intend to make use of the experience you will gain, including ways in which you would plan to communicate with the Foundation and to others at Harper Adams or elsewhere about your experience. Please also consider and describe in your letter how you would ensure that during the conference, you would act as a positive ambassador of Harper Adams University and the Next Generation of UK people seeking a career (or already working in) the agri-food chain and related industries.

Other points to note:

Please note that the successful applicant may be required to attend a meeting of the Development Trust during 2018/19 and/or speak at a Harper Forum meeting.

Written applications will be considered by a panel to include the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mills. Interviews (if required) are likely to take place on Tuesday 08 May 2018. Applicants will be advised by email if they are required to attend an interview as soon as possible after the deadline date.

Please contact Dr Catherine Baxter to discuss any further queries.

Thank you for your interest in this opportunity. We look forward to receiving your application.