BSPP 40th Anniversary Harper Adams MSc in Plant Pathology Studentship

In honour of our 40^th anniversary, the British Society for Plant Pathology will provide full funding for a student to study the MSc in Plant Pathology at Harper Adams University, starting in September 2021. The selected candidate will become the BSPP 40^th Anniversary MSc Student.

Click this to download a PDF poster

This award will cover all course fees – including international student fees, if applicable – as well as a tax-free stipend to cover living expenses. This stipend will be pegged to the current UKRI level for first year PhD students. At the time of writing the amount is £15,609/year (an equivalent amount will be allocated pro-rata if the student is part-time)

The BSPP 40^th Anniversary MSc Student will be asked to produce a monthly series of video diaries highlighting their experience during their MSc studies. They will be awarded free membership of the British Society for Plant Pathology for the next two years, and will also be invited to present a poster on the results of their MSc project during the BSPP Presidential Conference

We expect significant competition for this award.

In the first instance please apply directly to the MSc in Plant Pathology at Harper Adams University https://www.harper-adams.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/201036/plant-pathology. Eligible candidates who apply before 30^th June 2021 will automatically be entered into the competition to become BSPP 40^th Anniversary MSc Student. The top three candidates will be selected by representatives of Harper Adams University and will go on to be interviewed by members of the BSPP Education Committee. As well as academic performance, the representatives of the BSPP will be particularly interested in hearing how the studentship would be of benefit in going on to a career – or perhaps further study – in plant pathology.

The BSPP supports education in plant pathology in various ways. As well as this studentship, in honour of our 40^th Anniversary as a learned society, we support post-graduate students of plant pathology more generally. This year we will continue to fund up to five further MSc/MRes bursaries of up to £4,000 (https://www.bspp.org.uk/funds/mscmres/). Applicants for the Harper Adams MSc applying before 30^th June 2021 will automatically be considered for one of these awards if they are not selected as the BSPP 40^th Anniversary MSc Student. However, the MSc/MRes bursaries can, of course, also be used to support post-graduate studies at other universities, both within the United Kingdom as well as internationally. The only constraint is that studies must include a significant plant pathology component. Undergraduate projects in plant pathology are also supported via various schemes (e.g. https://www.bspp.org.uk/funds/phugs-plant-health-undergraduate-studentships/ and https://www.bspp.org.uk/funds/vacation/).

In case of enquiries about the BSPP 40^th Anniversary MSc Student, please contact Professor Simon Edwards at Harper Adams University (sedwards@harper-adams.ac.uk) or Dr Nik Cunniffe at the BSPP (education@bspp.org.uk).

You can download a poster to print here (3MB)