Richard Davidson Award

The Richard Davidson Award offers two scholarships to complete the PG Certificate in Global Food Security and Nutrition (online) in 2020-2021.

The aim of the MSc in Global Food Security and Nutrition is to develop the applied knowledge and understanding and specialist professional skills to analyse food systems, food security and food production, and be able to lead on change in food systems to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. The Richard Davidson Award aims to enable us to support a number of young professionals who seek to become leaders in food systems and support food security, but who may have had difficulties in accessing higher education.

Award

The Richard Davidson Award offers two scholarships to complete the PG Certificate in Global Food Security and Nutrition (online). This is equivalent to year one of the PG Diploma and MSc Global Food Security & Nutrition (online) programmes and covers three core courses* (60 credits). These must be completed within one academic year.

* Core Courses for MSc Global Food Security & Nutrition (online): Nutrition for Food Security (VESC11187); Sustainable Food Production (VESC11199); Frameworks to Assess Food Security (VESC11198).

Eligibility

Applicants must have applied for the PGCert., PGDip., or MSc. Global Food Security and Nutrition (online) commencing in the 2020-2021 academic year. Applicants should have firmly accepted their offer of admission before the application deadline.

Applying

In order to apply for one of the scholarships you must complete the standard application process for either the PGCert., PGDip., or MSc. Global Food Security and Nutrition (online) commencing in 2020-2021 academic year. Applicants should have firmly accepted their offer of admission before the scholarship application deadline. All applications for the scholarship (answers to the following questions) are to be emailed to food.SecurityNutrition@ed.ac.uk by the scholarship deadline of 1300h UTC Monday 6th July 2020. Applicants are asked to use the following email Subject: “GFSN Scholarship application 2020” and include their “Application ID” from MYHub.

Please answer the following questions in the maximum word count stated.

We are interested in your passion for food or agriculture. Tell us what excites you about food, and the experiences you have had around food or farming that relate to your desire to study food security. (400 words)
The aim of our MSc is to develop leaders who can address the crisis in food systems, from food insecurity to environmental impacts. Tell us about your leadership skills and give us an example of how you have used these to facilitate a specific change. (400 words)
Tell us what challenges you have faced in your education and how you have sought to overcome them? (200 words)
How will the skills you learn at the University of Edinburgh benefit your community or country? Are there specific food-related issues you would like to help change? (300 words)
This programme is delivered online. What do you see as the positives of online study and what problems can you envisage? How would you overcome those problems? (200 words)

Selection criteria

Applicants who are shortlisted will be invited for interview via video connection e.g. Skype. If shortlisted, you will receive an email to the address you registered in your application. You will be asked to choose a convenient time slot for interview. The interview will last approximately 30 minutes and will allow us to ask you more about the scholarship and your interests in food security and also an opportunity for us to get to know you better. You will also be able to ask any questions that you have.

Awards will be determined on academic merit, the answers to the five questions and also the interview.