By the kind generosity of Fellows Paul and Mary Slawson, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) offers two to three awards annually, each between £1,000 - £3,000, for PhD students intending to carry out geographical field research.

The awards, which have been given since 2001, support geographical fieldwork involving development issues with a high social and economic value.

  Deadline: 24 February 2012

  Apply
  Slawson Award guidelines (PDF)
  Research Ethics and Code of Practice (PDF)

Slawson Award recipients

  2011: Patricia Campbell (University of Glasgow). The project focussed on human settlement development, from shack to house and slum to suburb

  2011: Andres Luque (Durham University). This comparitive research project of cities in India and Brazil studied emerging renewable energy practices in middle income nations

  2011: Frances Lambrick (University of Oxford). The project studied the ecological effects of community forestry and the potential for climate mitigation funding

  2010: Julia Aglionby (Newcastle University). The project studied the delivery of ecosystem services on common land in protected areas, from both a legal and institutional perspective

  2010: Caroline Day (University of Reading). The project researched the life course transitions of young people caring for parents and relatives in Zambia

  2010: Chandra Bushan Kumar (Aberystwyth University). The project studied the changing role of formal and informal institutions in Delhi, a developing world megacity

  2009: James Morrissey (University of Oxford). A comparative political ecology of migration in the Ethiopian Highlands

  2009: Gary Watmough (University of Southampton).The project explored the spatial relationships between socio-economic variables and environmental factors

  2009: Tamlynn Fleetwood (Durham University). The project looked at social inclusion and integration in post-apartheid secondary school education

  2008: Li Kheng Poh (University of Brighton). The project looked at environmental accountability in Malaysia, with insights from the Broga and Bukit Merah environmental campaigns

  2008: Gotzone Garay (University of Kent). This ethnoclimatology study of the El Nino phenomenon looked at forest-dependent indigenous community knowledge and responses in Central Borneo, and how this information could be built into scientific forecasting

  2007: Roy Huijsmans (Durham University). An ethnographic study of migration and non-migration by children and youth in an ethnic Lao village in the context of a post-socialist state

  2007: Richard Paley (University of Cambridge). The project reaseched factors influencing effectiveness of Protected Area Management institutions and organisations in Cambodia

  2007: Fraser Sugden (University of Edinburgh). A study of markets, the state and social structures on the Nepali Lowlands: the political economy of agrarian change

  2006: Troy Sternberg (University of Oxford). The project studied pastoral environments in the Gobi Desert

  2006: Alexandra Conliffe (University of Oxford). The project looked at the combined impacts of political and environmental change on rural livelihoods in the Aral Sea Region of Uzbekistan

  2006: Julie Taylor (University of Oxford). The project looked at indigenous knowledge in Namibia's West Caprivi and it's use in GIS 

  2005: Lorena Pasquini (University of Sheffield). A study of private sector protected areas and biodiversity conservation in Cape Floristic Region, South Africa

  2005: Emma Whittingham (University of Exeter). The project explored local and external development interfaces in changing fisheries livelihoods in Cambodia
 
  2005: Daniel Turner (University of Sheffield). The project studied the changing nature of social and institutional support for people living with HIV/AIDs in Botswana

  2004: Susannah Sallu (University of Sheffield). The project, in South Africa looked at the impact of local environmental change on biodiversity, degradation and livelihoods

  2004: Peter Mackie (Swansea University). The project studied children in informal trading in Cuzco, Peru

  2003: Emmeline Skinner (University College London). The project researched poverty and social livelihood strategies for older people in South America

  2003: Felicity Thomas (University of Sheffield). The project looked at the impacts of HIV and AIDS on the livelihoods of female headed households in Northern Namibia
 
  2003: David Mandiyanike (Royal Holloway University). The project studied the performance of rural local authorities over a decade in Zimbabwe

  2002: Douglas McNab (University of Sheffield). The project studied environmental change, land degradation and livelihood biodiversity in the Northern Province, South Africa

  2002: Jennie Mallela (Manchester Metropolitan University). The project assessed calcium carbonate budgets for two coral reefs affected by different terrestrial runoff regimes in Rio Bueno, Jamaica
  
  2001: Yara Evans (Aberystwyth University). The project looked at the efforts towards sustainable tourism in Serra Do Mar State Park, Sao Paulo, Brazil

  2001: Laurence Vagassky (London School of Economics). The study looked at upgrading projects in Dakar's informal settlements and the impacts on the economy      

  2001: Andrew Bradley (University of Leicester). The project studied driving forces of land use and land cover change in tropical Montane Forests, South America  

For further information on the projects listed above, including a summary of the research and expedition reports, please browse the Society's Expeditions Database.