About the Award
The Geographical Fieldwork Grant is the Society's longest running grant scheme. Every year, these grants enable upwards of 20 teams of students and researchers to get into the field.
The Geographical Fieldwork Grants are generously supported by a number of donors which include:
Macdonald Award, Gumby Award, Rio Tinto Award, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Educational Trust, Penruddocke-Park Lander Fund, Rod Whitney Bequest, Sir Douglas Busk, Ralph Brown Memorial Fund, HR Mill Trust Fund, Marjorie Sweeting Bequest, Violet Cressey-Marcks Fisher Fund, Barling Fisher Bequest, Gough Island Fund, Stephens Bequest, The Jeremy Willson Charitable Trust, the Alexander Awards, the Neil Thomas Proto Award, and the Frederick Soddy Awards.
Deadline: 15 February
Apply now
Please read the grant guidelines and submit your application by email to grants@rgs.org.
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2018 recipients
Letitia Cookson (University of Sheffield): ‘Managing selective logging to protect the Amazon’s biodiversity’
This project aims to develop a landscape scale-logging strategy that can retain biodiversity at a minimal opportunity-cost for the logging industry. The team aims to gain an in-depth understanding of how charismatic insect indicator species respond to varying logging intensities in north-eastern Peru, and then model the best ways to geographically distribute reduced-impact selective logging.
Adrian White (University of Oxford): ‘Oxford University Finnmark Expedition’
This multidisciplinary expedition aims to investigate how changing climate is affecting the arctic landscape and its inhabitants. The team will employ photographic and tree surveying techniques to study the landscape and conduct in-depth interviews to gain insight into local people’s perceptions of the changing environment.
Jason Guy (University of Sussex): ‘Biogeographical optimisation of multi-use landscape-scale conservation corridors’
Research is required to guide the establishment of conservation corridors that optimise trade-offs between sustainable use of forest and the need for strict protection in the Chocóan rainforest, Ecuador. This project will develop a model, based on field-calibrated data for focal taxa, to optimise the design of a multi-use conservation corridor to connect reserves and protected areas in north west Ecuador.
Abigail Gwynn (University of Exeter): ‘Project Rungan 2019’
Project Rungan 2019 will undertake research on the population and distribution of flora and fauna in the Rungan forest of Indonesian Borneo - one of the largest unprotected regions in Kalimantan. Different survey techniques including camera trapping, orangutan nest surveys and bat echolocation detection will be employed to show how organisms are using the this habitat. The data will be used to inform protection of the area from development, primarily from logging, gold mining and oil palm plantations.
Nicholas Sundin (Newcastle University): ‘Attitudes to international actors in the Cyprus conflict’
This project investigates how international actors are perceived to be influencing the peace process in Cyprus. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with politicians in Cyprus, and with Cypriots on both sides of the dispute, to investigate whether the UN, EU and UK presences are perceived as constructive or divisive in fostering intercommunal harmony.
Jessica Melrose (University of Glasgow): ‘Investigating Perceptions and Vulnerabilities of Environmental Hazards in Trinidad’
Through key informant interviews, questionnaires and focus groups, this project will investigate how the population of Trinidad perceives each of the different hazards associated with the island, as well as investigating how vulnerable different communities are based on their geographical location.
Christopher McMahon (University of Glasgow): ‘University of Glasgow Uganda Expedition 2018’
This expedition aims to better understand the geology and geography surrounding the Rwenzori mountains on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The expedition team will work with local academics and students to undertake geological mapping, geographical landscape analysis and mineral data collection.
Alexander Hyde (University of Sheffield): ‘Ala Archa 2018’
This team of undergraduates aims to investigate changing glacial mass balance in Ala Archa National Park, Kyrgyzstan, looking at changes from centennial to diurnal scales. Ablation stakes and temperature log-tags will be used to model surface ablation. The team also aim to reconstruct the rate of glacial retreat, up to the centennial scale though the use of ground based, drone and GIS techniques.
Abbey Wong (King's College London): ‘Cloud water reduction in the Peruvian Andes: Forest ecology’
In response to the biological importance and lack of understanding of tropical montane cloud forests (TMCF), this team will investigate the relationship between TMCF ecosystems and cloud reduction in the Kosnipata Valley, Peru. Data will be collected from within the world’s first cloud-water reduction site. Using weather sensors and other collection methods, this project will investigate the hydrological stores of epiphyte mats and leaves through analysing proportional mass changes, and differences in soil moisture and temperature.
Geographical Fieldwork Grant recipients 2010-2017