For Office use:

Application No:

/

/ /

BRITISH SOCIETY OF ANIMAL SCIENCE

APPLICATION FOR AWARD

Please answer all questions

Full name
Address
Organisation
Current position
Telephone number
Fax number
E-mail address

Application Background

Please tick the award you are applying for
/ Murray Black / Alan Robertson / Kenneth Blaxter
Title of proposal
Value of award sought (£ GBP)
Have you applied for any co-funding? (Yes/No)
If “Yes” please give indicative source, amount and likely decision date
Have you submitted this proposal elsewhere (Yes/No)
If “Yes” please give details (source and likely date of when you will be informed)
Have you previously been the recipient of a BSAS award?
If so, please give details of date, value and topic.
Summary and relevance of the proposal to the objectives of the award (500 words max)
Full details of proposal, including dates, locations, time scale, contact organisation and persons, and itemised costs. If the application is to support presenting at a conference, please include any submitted abstract (as an appendix) and date when you are likely to hear of the outcome (750 words max)
Benefits that would accrue from this proposal covering benefit to the applicant, development of the scientific area and benefit to the animal science industry (500 words max)
Please provide name and address of an academic referee supporting this application (please ensure that they have agreed to support the application):
Please tick to confirm that the referee has approved and is willing to support this application
/
Please return this form and a copy of your full CV, preferably as email attachment no later than 31 August (Murray Black Award - 30 April)
Mr M A Steele, BSAS, PO Box 3, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 ORZ, UK
Telephone 0131 650 8784, Fax: 0131 650 8821, Email:

BSAS SCHOLARSHIPS

Murray Black

Murray Black was BSAS’s longest serving Treasurer until his sudden passing in 1999. In 1970 he came to the Edinburgh School of Agriculture as Farms Director serving both the University of Edinburgh and the Scottish Agricultural College. Murray’s many achievements were recognized by his period as a reforming President of the British Society of Animal Science, by the award of an MBE in 1996 for services in agriculture and education, and by a fellowship for the Royal Agricultural Societies in 1996.His scientific interests were in sheep production, animal welfare and the environment.

The award will be made annually to members of the Society who may be postgraduate students or in the early years of their animal science careers (less than 2 years post PhD or MSc). This award recognises Murray Black’s excellent contribution to BSAS and animal science research. The award is open to all branches of animal science and particularly welcomes proposals that cover the role of domestic and wild animals and their science in the enhancement and maintenance of the rural environment.

The award is focused on participation in research or undertaking a specific short research programme or other relevant activities that would enhance skills and experiences. The award may be used to add value to existing PhD or masters programmes through additional work. Applicants can seek support to travel to work at places away from their base. The award cannot be used to part fund PhD or MSc programmes or make up unplanned funding shortfalls in relation to any existing main project. The size of each award will be based on the quality and type of application but will normally be in the range of £500 to £1,500.

Date for submissions: 30th April each year (open to BSAS members only).

Sir Kenneth Blaxter

Sir Kenneth Blaxter was a key researcher in the second half of the 20th century in the fields of animal and human nutrition and animal husbandry. He studied at Reading and wrote his PhD thesis, entitled The maintenance of the winter milk supply in wartime. As head of the Nutrition Department at the Hannah Dairy Research Institute in Ayr, Scotland, he wrote over 200 papers focusing on energy metabolism and feed usage by ruminants. He also looked at nutritional diseases and magnesium deficiency in calves, the effect of temperature and other environmental effects on sheep, and ruminant digestion and feed intake. He finished his career as director of the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, where his research studies expanded to include deer farming, llamas, human nutrition, feed evaluation, environmental stress and animal calorimetry.

This scholarship will be awarded annually and is aimed at providing opportunities for younger BSAS members such as postgraduate students or those in the early years of their animal science career (less than 2 years post PhD or MSc).

The scholarship is to be used for travel in the UK or overseas, or for a specified overseas study tour. The award may be used for travel to conferences but in this case the awards panel will seek evidence of added value such as giving a presentation or poster and particularity where funding is used to visit establishments or engage with other scientists. The Kenneth Blaxter Award is open to applicants from all branches of animal science and any reasonable proposal within the scope of the scheme will be considered.

The sum of £1500 is available annually.

Date for submissions: 31st October each year (open to BSAS members only)

The Alan Robertson Fund for Animal Genetics

Alan Robertson was a population geneticist. He was a major influence in the widespread adoption of artificial insemination of cattle and on estimating genetic effects that influence quantitative traits. Robertson spent most of his working life based at the National Animal Breeding and Genetics Research Organisation in Edinburgh as a member of the Unit of Animal Genetics. He worked on improving dairy cattle using mathematical and statistical methods to devise the most effective breeding programmes. He made original contributions to the theory of genetic change in small populations and introduced a theory of limits to artificial selection, a combination of mathematical insight and quantitative genetic principles in a practical context.

This is an award aimed at those interested in animal genetics, aimed at allowing people to attend meetings and undertake study tours or projects, it can also be used to bring animal geneticists to UK meetings. Applications should reflect areas of current or future interest that will advance research and education in the application of genetics to livestock production. Around £1400 is available annually, although a proportion of these monies may be held over to allow more funding to be available in years when the World Congress in Genetics Applied Livestock Production, to fund attendance of that conference.

Date for submissions: 31st October each year. In years when the WCGALP is being held (every four years, 2018, 2022, 2026…) an additional application period will be added as notified by the society. This scholarship is open to both members and non-members of BSAS.

General Criteria

Applications will be considered by the BSAS Strategy and Innovation Group in May/June (Murray Black) and November/December (Kenneth Blaxter and Alan Robertson) each year and successful applicants notified thereafter. Feedback on an individual candidate’s application will only be provided on request of the individual. However, general information on the numbers of applicants and success rate of applications and the names of the successful applicants may be made available in BSAS newsletters/website. All information provided in the application will be treated as confidential. It will only be used by, and made available to, the committee assessing the Scholarships in accordance with Data Protection Act 1998.

The project/study tour/meeting attendance must be completed within 12 months of the closing date of the Award. Successful candidates will be asked to prepare a report of their award which will be published on the BSAS website for the information of members. In some instances, a successful candidate may also be asked to present a short report to the Annual Meeting/Student Events, either as a poster or theatre presentation if appropriate.

Applications will be judged on the criteria set out below, using the information provided by the applicant on the scholarship application form together with the information contained in the supporting documentation (CV). The referee named in the application may also be contacted to help with the judging process. Each application will be judged on its own merits but the criteria used will include:

·  Quality of the applicant (qualifications and individual merits of each candidate),

·  Likely benefits to the individuals in terms of career progression

·  The expected advances in knowledge to arise from the award (scientific merit, benefit to the animal science industry, likelihood of success in the case of short research programme)

·  Value for money including (i) are the costings/timetable sensible given the application (ii) is the applicant “adding value” to the application (e.g., undertaking a visit to a relevant local research group before/after a conference).

Candidates will be scored out of 5 (1 poor, 5 excellent) in each of these 4 categories and the scores of the judging group collated. Applicants must score a minimum of 12 (out of 20) to be short listed for an award. The judging group may give an award to multiple candidates, funds permitting. The amounts awarded to candidates may not be the full amounts requested. In the case of a potential conflict of the interest for a member of the judging group (e.g., academic supervisor of a candidate), their votes will be discarded. Any application that fails to meet the criteria of the awards set out in this document will not be considered.

·  Applicants may only apply for one award with the same project/proposal.

·  Monies may not be used to purchase capital equipment.

·  Awards are not made to form part of core funding for an MSc or PhD studentship.

·  All successful applicants must provide a report at the end of the project/visit and within six months of proposed end date. (A reporting template is available on the BSAS website)

·  Full monies will be provided only on successful completion of the report.

·  Full monies will be provided only on based on the submission of valid receipts. These receipts must not have been submitted elsewhere.

·  BSAS must be acknowledged in all presentations and publications.

·  The Blaxter and Black awards are only open to BSAS members.