Plant Science

Programmes

Sainsbury Undergraduate Studentships

Our undergraduate studentship scheme aims to identify excellent second-year undergraduates (or three-year undergraduates on a four-year course) with an interest in plant science, and support them to continue in the subject through summer research projects in laboratories outside their place of study.

Sainsbury Undergraduate Studentships

Gatsby’s Plant Science Advisors have specially selected Gatsby Mentors at universities which have strong plant science research. Each year the Gatsby Mentors identify excellent second-year undergraduates who have an interest in plant science and help them to write proposals for research projects in the summer vacation.

Each Gatsby Mentor nominates up to two students to the Gatsby Plant Advisors, who interview them before selecting up to seven students to receive Sainsbury Undergraduate Studentships.

Each award totals £5,000:  £3,000 paid through the host institution to support the student and provide some costs to the host laboratory during the summer internship as well as £2,000 directly to the student (£1,000 before and after the summer project), assuming satisfactory reports are obtained.

The studentships are used to fund placements in research laboratories, to cover the cost of field work or attendance at plant science-related conferences, and to purchase books or subscriptions to journals and scientific magazines.

Recipients of Undergraduate Studentships

2025

  • Maria Fargione, University of Bristol
  • Yixuan (Genevieve) Guo, University of Southampton
  • Sam Musgrave, University of Bristol
  • Justin Saddler, University of Aberdeen
  • James Wakefield, University of Oxford
  • Thomas Welsh, Newcastle University

2024

  • Daniel Cairns, Newcastle University
  • Tisya Dewan, Imperial College London
  • Annabelle Knutson, University of Edinburgh
  • Will Palicki, University of Aberdeen
  • Isobel Russell, University of Sheffield
  • Gerard Santos, University of Leeds

 

2023

  • Ruby Alderson, University of Bristol
  • Sam Clucas, Durham University
  • Lia Frost, University of Aberdeen
  • Flora Gilmour, University of Leeds
  • Beth Morton, University of Warwick
  • Jennie Yang, University of Dundee
  • Fiona Zhang, Imperial College London

2022

  • Amber Gentle, University of Bath
  • Connor Forsyth, University of Oxford
  • Hamish MacDonald-Mair, University of Glasgow
  • Hazel Surtees, University of Dundee
  • Jessie Leitch, University of Sheffield
  • Lorraine Debéron, Imperial College London
  • Ludo de Falbe, Durham University

2021

  • Desislava Kostandinova, University of Leeds
  • Dylan Bowater, University of Nottingham
  • Eleanor Taylor, University of Exeter
  • Gustavs Mezciems, University of Cambridge
  • Issi Steeley, University of Dundee
  • Kate Mullarkey, University of Glasgow
  • Tal Jeffrey, University of Oxford

2020

  • William Davis, University of York
  • Georges Greiff, University of Oxford
  • Arran Horne, University of Leeds
  • Henry Bath, University of York
  • Katie Long, University of Edinburgh
  • Lauren Eddie, University of Oxford
  • Wiktoria Fatz, Durham University