top of page
The Gill Harwood Memorial Fund

UPCOMING DEADLINE: TBC

Previous Deadline: 28th February 2025

The Gill Harwood Memorial Fund offers financial support to female graduate students (of any age) and female sedimentologists (under the age of 30), of any nationality, who require funds to assist them in carrying out sedimentological fieldwork or for attendance at international meetings.

Successful recipients of each fund are required to report on their BSRG-supported activities, normally via presenting a poster or talk at the following year’s Annual General Meeting.

​

BSRG_Logo_bluewhite.png
About the fund

In memory of Gill Harwood's international contribution to evaporite and carbonate sedimentology, and in keeping with Gill's spirit of global adventure and knowing that she would want other young women to share in some of the opportunities she pursued. The British Sedimentological Research Group, with assistance from the International Association of Sedimentologists and the Geological Society of London, have raised money through donations to generate a fund that will enable yearly grants to be awarded. The donations towards this fund were given mainly by individuals who knew and worked with Gill, from industry and from the British Sedimentological Research Group.

​

We wish to thank all of the many individuals who contributed to this fund, and to Amerada Hess, British Petroleum, Cambridge Carbonates, Mobil North Sea, Ranger Oil, and the Universities of East Anglia, Leeds and Newcastle for their generous contributions.

Jan Alexander (University of East Anglia), Dan Bosence (Royal Holloway University of London), Duncan Pirrie (Camborne School of Mines)

Thanks to the Personal Contributors to the Gill Harwood Memorial Fund: A. Adams, T. Alexandersson, J. Andrews, T. Atkinson, R. Bathurst, K. Bjorlykke, U. Boiano, I. Boomer, P. Brenchley, N. Chroston, I. Davison, H. Downes, W-C. Dullo, I. Fairchild, Fiona, G. Friedman, P. Friend, G. Fries, A. Friewald, S. Frisia, B. Funnel, R. Ginsburg, D. Grainger, O. Green, J, Hendry, J. Hudson, J. Ineson, E. Insalaco, I. Jarvis, T. Jickells, G. Kelling, M. Leeder, J. Light, I. Lind, J-P. Loreau, M. Luca, B. Maher, R. Major, M. Mange, I. McCave, B. Myers, G. Nichols, T.O'Riordan, F. Orszag-Sperber, H. Owen, L. Pray, C. Pudsey, E. Purdy, B. Purser, H. Reading, J. Reijmer, R. Riding, G. Rizzi, K. Schofield, S. van Rose, F. Vine, I. West, P. Wilson, J. Wood, R. Wood, J. Wonham, P. Wright.

​

Additional contributions to the fund would be very welcome and should be sent to either: Jan Alexander, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, U.K. or Dan Bosence, Department of Geology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, U.K.

How to Apply

Applications are assessed by the BSRG Committee primarily on the originality of the research and need. Submit the following documents to the BSRG Awards officer (brian.burnham@abdn.ac.uk). Please format all documents: rtf or pdf format, all in 12pt Times, single spaced, minimum 1.5 cm margin and with diagrams if appropriate.

​

1. A brief CV emphasizing your academic qualifications back to first degree level. Include: your name, current UK university, supervisors name(s), current source of funding, other sources of funding applied for (all frequently omitted!). Stick to relevant information we don't need to know if you can juggle chain saws while unicycling but we do need to hear about the training you have received (any related courses/industry experience acquired during your PhD period), relevant skills, any other awards you have received during your PhD research and the financial background to your project (for example are you NERC-, Industry-, University-, Department- or self-funded or a combination of these?). No more than 1 side of A4.

​

2. An outline of your present and proposed research. Outline the key generic problem that your PhD research is aiming to solve. Try to stress the aims, and possible uses of the research. Why should we fund you and not someone else? You must include: an explanation of how the award will be used (conference or fieldwork) and how your personal development and academic experience will benefit. No more than 2 sides of A4.

​

3. A breakdown of the budget giving details of the total cost of fieldwork or conference attendance. If you are applying for partial funding from BSRG you need to include a statement of how the balance will be raised. We need to know the exact amount that you are requesting from the fund. 1 side A4 max.

​

4. An e-mail from your supervisor, sent directly to the BSRG Awards Officer by the deadline, that includes a statement confirming that you are a PhD student at the institution named in your CV and demonstrating that you fulfil the conditions of the award. The email should include an explanation of why the award is needed for the project. This should not be a reference as such but should justify the request for funding and include comments as to why additional funds are require​d.​​

​

Past Winners

2025 Awards

  • Jennifer Hewitt (Bangor University) - "Muddy Feet: Dinosaurs Tiptoeing through Tides"

2024 Awards

  • Hannah Muir (NOC/Swansea University) - "Blue Carbon Storage and Sequestration: Understanding and maximising natural sedimentary carbon accumulation"

2023 Awards

  • Nemi Walding, (University of Hull) "The PDC flow units problem: deposit heterogeneity from varying cohesive behaviour and sediment flux."

  • Rosemary Huck, (University of Oxford) "The impact of wildfire on mineral dust emissions from partially vegetated sand dunes."

2022 Awards

  • Sharman Jones (Aberystwyth University) "Sedimentary proxies of fast ice flow in Late Palaeozoic subglacial bedforms of the Dwyka Group, Namibia" - Award of £200 to support fieldwork in South Africa.

2019 Awards

  • Madeleine Hann (University of Manchester) "Debris flows and flash floods in paraglacial settings" & “What are we doing to enable Women in Geoscience?”– Award of £255 to support attendance at the EGU General Assembly, Vienna.

2017 Awards

2016 Awards

2015 Awards

2014 Awards

2013 Awards

  • Mel Froude £400

  • Naomi Jordan £600

  • Rosemary Dartnell £900

2012 Awards

  • Marie Busfield £1000

  • Hayley Allen £500

2011 Awards

2010 Awards

2009 Awards

2008 Awards

  • Heather MacDonald, University of Leeds (full award) £450

  • Suzanne Palmer, Manchester Metropolitan University (full award) £375

  • Natalie Parker, University of Birmingham (partial award) £300

  • Rachel Kieft, Imperial College, London (partial award) £150

2007 Awards

  • Margaret Stewart, Imperial College (full award) £600

  • Fengling Yu, University of Durham (partial award) £150

2006 Awards

  • Rachel Batt, University of Leeds (full award) £790

  • Laura Evenstar, University of Aberdeen (partial award) £425

2005 Awards

  • Katie Thomson, University of Durham (full award) £600

  • Nicola McLoughlin, University of Oxford (partial award) £400

2004 Awards

  • Amy Whitchurch, Imperial College (full award) £500

  • Elizabeth Nunn, University of Plymouth (partial award) £550

2003 Awards

  • Clare Henman, University of Leicester (full award) £500

Stay informed, join our mailing list

Thank you for subscribing!

BSRG_whiteblue.png
bottom of page