LANDSCAPING CAREERS

Bursaries & Grants – Landscaping Careers

Learn more about the bursaries schemes available in the UK, providing financial support for a wide range of projects and travel

bali chalk fund

BALI Chalk Fund

The BALI Chalk Fund run a Student of the Year Award for BALI Registered colleges to participate, and nominate a student to receive the award. Winners will receive a cheque of £100 and a certificate. The BALI Chalk Fund have also launched a UK BALI Chalk Fund Student of the Year. Each student that is nominated will be considered for the UK Student of the Year award. The winning student and their college will receive a cheque for £500 and 2 tickets to the BALI National Landscape Awards Ceremony, held in December.

info@balichalkfund.org.uk
CIH

Chartered Institue of Horticulture

At CIH we are able to offer a number of grants and prizes for horticulturists at different stages of their career. 

These include the: 

The Norah Stucken award: a £500 prize for a project which has made a significant impact within the industry. The Aberconway award: £500 prize for the best horticultural dissertation submitted by a student or non-student under the age of 30. Young Horticulturist of the Year: the winner of this annual competition is awarded a £2500 travel bursary to help them further their career. The Pam Pointer award: awarded to four students of Horticulture a year in recognition of outstanding achievement in academic and practical pursuits, sponsored attendance at the CIH conference and 1-year free associate membership.

cih@horticulture.org.uk
logo

The Finnis Scott Foundation

The Foundation can provide grants for any charitable purpose, however their present policy is to focus grant-making in the areas of horticulture and plant sciences, as well as fine art and art history, reflecting the primary interests of the Foundation’s instigators – Sir David Montagu Douglas Scott KCMG OBE and his wife, Valerie Finnis VMH. In general the Trustees will only usually consider grants of between £500 and £10,000, although, exceptionally, larger grants may be considered at the Trustees’ discretion. Preference is given to making grants to smaller charities where the grant would have a significant impact.

amoon@hcrlaw.com
Colegrave Seabrook Foundation Logo

Colebrook Seagrave Foundation

The Student Scholarship awards £1,500 to each of up to 5 students to support their studies in horticulture. Preference is given to candidates who have an interest in ornamental commercial horticulture, especially with an emphasis on the bedding, container, pot plant and cut flower sectors.

Blue Diamond Scholarships are offered annually by this premier group of 44 garden centres who also have their own extensive nurseries and a unique collaboration with the National Trust and a Partner Garden with the RHS. Bursaries of up to £2,500 are available to students’ studying horticulture at a college on a wide range of courses. Applications for support towards the cost of student life including course fees, equipment and materials associated with your studies, travel are all welcome for these flexible scholarships.

The British Protected Ornamentals Association – Peter Seabrook Bursary offers £1,000 to support one or more students studying commercial horticulture. The scholarship is also available to schools and horticultural colleges to finance trips for students over 16 years of age to leading commercial horticultural establishments.

The Ball Colegrave Sponsored Travel Scholarship awards up to £1,500 to fund travel to Europe in order to develop knowledge and experience in bedding plant production and marketing. An employee in the early stages of their career at a commercial bedding plant nursery, or a student studying horticulture with an interest in commercial bedding plants should apply.

The John Gibson Environmental Scholarship will award £1,500 to a student with a keen interest in environmental solutions and sustainable applications as applied to commercial horticulture. John Gibson worked at Colegrave Seeds with the late David Colegrave and was at the forefront of the development of the market for hybrid seeds and seedlings. This scholarship recognises John’s keen interest in environmental solutions that can advance commercial horticulture in a sustainable manner.

The Horticultural Research Scholarship will award up to £4,000 to support applied research within the horticulture industry. Students with proven merit who are perhaps undertaking a research project as part of their education that would benefit from some early funding support to extend their project can apply. This includes undergraduates, postgraduates and those studying for doctoral degrees.

This scholarship is currently offered via the Royal Society of Biology as part of their Plant Health Undergraduate Studentships. We co fund this scholarship with The Crispa (Richard Cahn) Charitable Trust. Richard Cahn was a well known and highly respected figure in the horticultural business world and perhaps best remembered for creating Roundstone Nurseries and Garden Centre in West Sussex.

The Majestic Trees Sponsored Travel Scholarship is offering up to £3,000 to fund a placement abroad at a tree nursery. This also includes the opportunity for a work placement at Majestic Trees, which could become a permanent position. The owners of Majestic Trees, Steve and Janet McCurdy, first met in California whilst Steve was working as an exchange student. Steve’s work experience opportunity greatly influenced the way they run Majestic Trees and it is for this reason that Majestic Trees provide this scholarship for a student passionate about tree production.

Hort Tech Award supported by Worshipful Company of Gardeners is offering up to £5,000 to students, academics and individuals who are developing horticulture technologies.

As technology becomes increasingly important in horticulture, a number of colleges and universities have specialist technical schools, working on projects as well as educating students. Projects looking to reduce human labour inputs or improve growing conditions and product ‘shelf-life’ are all vital to the future commercial ornamental.

Brian Crosby Scholarship funds up to £1,000 to a student from, or studying in, the north west of England, Brian’s home area. As with al of the CSF scholarships, this award is not means tested, and can be used to support course or exam fees, equipment and materials associated with your studies, travel or the other ‘costs’ of student life. Scholarship

Season opens for applications in September each year with the deadline for entries being the 31st January following. Awards are made usually towards the end of March or early April. To enter applicants simply need to complete an application form which they can do online at:

info@colegraveseabrookfoundation.org.uk
Great Dixter logo green56h

The Great Dixter Charitable Trust

The Trust offers the Christopher Lloyd Bursary, the purpose of which is to create opportunities for trainee and young gardeners to travel and work in interesting places, widen their experience and gain inspiration from experts in the UK and abroad. Applications are invited for bursaries of up to £1,500 and are accepted at any time of the year.

education@greatdixter.co.uk
hkf box logo

Helena Kennedy Foundation

The Foundation provides support of up to £2,250 to students whose personal and financial circumstances make progression to higher education difficult. They have two awards for a higher level apprenticeship in agriculture, and three awards for students wanting to progress to a land based degree. Those eligible to apply must be at a FE college or sixth form college, and must not have already undertaken a further education course.

enquiries@hkf.org.uk
logo (1)

Historic And Botanic Garden Training Programme

The Historic and Botanic Garden Training Programme (HBGTP) enables enthusiastic and committed horticulturists to increase their horticultural and other technical skills through garden placements in a range of historic and botanic gardens throughout the UK. The programme is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

HBGTP offers trainees a structured learning programme and an assigned Supervisor and Mentor to guide and support their practical training.

elinor.davies@english-heritage.org.uk
MerlinTrust2

The Merlin Trust

The Merlin Trust offers grants to British or Irish Citizens who are between the ages of 18 and 35 years or in their first five years of a career in horticulture, for studying plants in the wild and in gardens, abroad and in the UK. Funding is also available if you are a foreign national studying in a British or Irish horticulturally recognised institution. Applications are invited throughout the year for long or short term projects, grants up to £1,500 may be available.

The Trust was founded by Valerie Finnis VMH in memory of Merlin Scott to encourage young horticulturists.

info@merlin-trust.org.uk
PGT+logo

The Professional Gardeners' Trust

The Professional Gardeners’ Trust (PGT) was established in 2004 to fund training and study for working gardeners, who could not otherwise afford it, in the UK and Ireland.

The PGT provides gardeners with the opportunity to acquire skills and gain qualifications, this enhances their careers and benefits the horticulture profession as a whole.

adrian@pgtrust.org
RHS Logo with roots

Royal Horticultural Society

Through its bursaries scheme, the RHS provides financial support for a wide range of horticultural projects both abroad and in the UK. Bursaries generally range between £100 and £3,000.

Projects with a very clear relevance to horticulture are eligible to be considered for a bursary, and monies can be used to contribute towards costs like travel, accommodation, supporting publications, amongst others.

bursaries@rhs.org.uk
Studley College Trust

The Studley College Trust

The Trust provides financial support in the form of student bursaries for study and training activities in the land-based industries. Bursaries can be accessed through a number of routes, including college bursaries, sponsored scholarships, travelling scholarships, and other college programmes. If you are already studying on a college course and struggling with insufficient funds, or if you plan to go to College in the coming academic year and are worried about coping on limited resources you may well be eligible for a Studley College bursary.

studleyct@btinternet.com
perennial logo

Perennial

Perennial is the UK’s only charity supporting all those working with plants, trees, flowers or grass, as well as those who have retired, who dedicate their passion, time and energy to keeping Britain beautiful. Perennial offers financial support to help both those already working in horticulture to build and develop their skills and careers, and also to horticultural students who are struggling to complete their course because of an unexpected or life-changing event.

info@perennial.org.uk