Apply now for the Goodhart Bursary
The Goodhart Bursary enables early career professionals to attend the Royal Forestry Society's Annual Study Tour, a four-day event across some of the leading estates in the South of England.
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In 2026, the RFS is offering four Goodhart Bursaries to the value of £600 each to support the cost of attending the RFS Annual Study Tour.
The Goodhart Bursary is an opportunity for early-career professionals to learn from some of the country’s leading estates and foresters. Recipients will spend four days touring the South of England from 11-14 May. Delegates will start in the New Forest, where representatives of Forestry England will explore the challenges of balancing public access, biodiversity, and timber production.
The following day will be spent at the Stourhead (Western) Estate, where Nick and Sara Hoare manage 496 hectares of woodland with advisor David Pengelly. One of the leading examples of Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) in the UK, delegates will learn how plantation forestry is being converted to this system.
Another excellent example of CCF will be seen at Herriard Estate, currently under the stewardship of John Jervoise and his son, Jack. The group will see plantations of conifers and broadleaves and some areas of traditional hazel coppice. Discussions will focus on quality, provenance, the future of conifer on Ancient Woodland sites, the impact of pests and diseases, alternative species and the future of hazel coppice.
The Society’s AGM will be held at lunchtim and the Annual Dinner will held at Norton Park Hotel, Sutton Scotney in the evening. This is an excellent opportunity for bursary recipients to network and connect with forestry experts in a relaxed setting.
RFS Gold Medal recipient, Professor Julian Evans OBE FICFor, will be our after dinner speaker on the subject of “The appliance of science in forestry.”
The final day of the event will be spent at Bentley Wood, 700 ha of former coppice which was clearfelled after WWII and replanted by the Forestry Commission in the 1950s for long-term oak and beech production. The wood was sold in 1983, when Lady Ann Colman founded a charitable trust to acquire and manage the site to protect and enhance its nature conservation value.
After attending the Annual Study Tour Bursary recipients will submit a report, blog or photo diary, recording their experience and learnings.
Eligibility Criteria:
At the time of your application you must:
Be under the age of 30 OR have left College or University within the past 5 years
Be an RFS individual member or employed by an RFS Corporate member
A committee will be appointed by RFS to review all applications. No other information will be used to assess each application.
If you have any questions about making an application, please email us.
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