We are delighted to announce that the Department of Plant Sciences is able to offer a Radford Scholarship in 2021 for research into improving crop yields. The Radford Scholarship has been funded though the generosity of Mr and Mrs Marriott (parents of a Worcester graduate), and the recipient of the Scholarship will be a member of Worcester College.
The focus of the scholarship on improving crop yields is timely given the major food security challenge that the world now faces. It is also highly appropriate for a Department in which much of our current research is motivated by the need to tackle the problem with all the scientific tools at our disposal. The Radford Scholarship will be open to a UK student wishing to undertake a DPhil project and application details can be found on the graduate pages.
Professor R. George Ratcliffe, Head of the Department of Plant Sciences, said: “Graduate students are the seed corn of the Department. Each new cohort of graduate students invigorates our thinking and allows the discipline to advance. This gift from the Marriott family is very welcome indeed and it will allow someone with a flair for their subject to contribute to the critically important endeavour of improving crop yields.”
Upon gifting the Radford Scholarship, the benefactors said: “It has been a long held ambition of ours to help fund a project raising crop yields. It is of huge importance to the world and of deep personal interest to us. We will greatly look forward to hearing about the way this may be achieved. The successful candidate will have a fascinating four years and play their part in maintaining Oxford's pre-eminence among the great research institutions.”
Kate Foley, Development Director and Fellow said: “Worcester College is very grateful to Mr and Mrs Mariott for making this incredibly generous gift. Graduate scholarships are the lifeblood of a global research University like Oxford, and Worcester College is honoured to be able to welcome the Radford Scholar into our community of scholars. We are looking forward to building on our connection with the Mariott family in the years to come.”
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For more information, please visit: https://plants.web.ox.ac.uk/radford-scholarship-plant-sciences
