Bursary reports

All bursary recipients produce reports on their experiences and each year two prizes of £500 and £250 each are awarded

What happens after my bursary?

If you are awarded a bursary you will be required to produce a written report within three months of completion of your project.

All reports are assessed by a judging panel of RHS staff associated with Botany, the Lindley Library, and RHS Media. A short list of reports is then prepared for final assessment by members of the RHS Bursaries Committee.
 
Each year two main prizes are awarded. The major prize of £500 is given to the individual whose report is considered to reflect the highest standard of report writing, while the other prize of £250 goes to the person who is judged to have personally gained the most from his/her project.
 


Read previous reports

RHS Libraries are a great resource of information when preparing your application, researching for your project, or writing up your report. Downloadable PDF copies of previous reports can be requested by emailing an RHS Libraries Bursary Report scan request form (112kB pdf) to the Wisley library at [email protected].

Please note: Some bursaries are kept in off-site storage, and it will take up to four weeks to fulfil a request.


Recent Bursary Report prize winners

£500 Prize

  • Melissa Bennett - Exploring Desert Plants, 2023
  • Sally Bower – Nature rising from the rubble – gravel and recycled aggregate gardens in Essex and London, 2022
  • Jennifer Whittaker – Right Plant, Right Place: A study of the use and manipulation of micro-climates in Cornwall, 2020
  • RHS Garden Wisley students – The Gardens and Plant of Andalucia, 2019
  • Robert Blackhall-Miles & Ben Ram – A further study of the high altitude Proteaceae in the Western Cape of South Africa, 2018

£250 Prize

  • Emma Leaper – Aotearoa - A horticultural road trip across New Zealand, 2023
  • Scott Galloway – A molecular investigation into the genus Bergenia, 2022
  • Richard Eltringham – A summary of the American Horticultural Therapy Association 2019 Annual Conference
  • Joseph Evans – Flowers, Fronds & Forests: North East UK, 2018
  • Charlotte Bancroft – Following in Harold Comber’s Footsteps, 2018

More information

The RHS Bursaries Co-ordinator, RHS Garden Wisley, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB
Telephone: 01483 479719
Email: Bursaries

Tips for writing Bursary Reports

Making your report as good as it can be will not only give you a wonderful record of your experience but may also win you a prize.

Courses & workshops

Learn a new skill or brush up on old ones with a workshop or short course with the RHS.

Find a course

Get involved

The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.