Viking Bursary: applications now open to fund original study and research
Applications are now open for the 2026 Viking Bursary, which awards up to £2,000 to higher education students, helping fund original study and research.
The Royal Forestry Society (RFS) has opened applications today for the Viking Bursary, an award for students in higher education to study any aspect of forestry which benefits the practical management and resilience of woodlands.
The bursary will fund all costs directly associated with the project, including travel, accommodation and equipment.
In most years, the RFS makes one award of up to a total value of £2,000, but on some occasions will make more than one award. For applications of an exceptional standard, awards of over £2,000 may be granted.
Recipients will be invited to submit an article sharing their findings that will be published on the RFS website, with an extract and link in the Quarterly Journal of Forestry.
All applications must be submitted by Monday 1 June at 12pm. Applications will be reviewed by RFS HQ and then shortlisted by the RFS Yorkshire Division Committee.
Previous bursary recipients include Aakash Basi, a PhD student at the University of Birmingham, who received £2,000 funding last year. The bursary helped deepen his understanding of how urban forestry can not only restore polluted landscapes but also support soil biodiversity and long-term ecological resilience in towns and cities.
In 2024, Emily Grace, a PhD student at the University of Birmingham, studied how viruses that infect bacteria, named bacteriophages, can influence bacterial tree diseases, particularly Acute Oak Decline (AOD).
Fellow recipient Andrea Rabbai, also from the University of Birmingham, used the bursary to support his work studying the implications of drought on forest stands. His research involved analysing water use efficiency (WUE) using carbon isotopes in tree rings. He and his colleagues hope to gain insights into how trees in complex mixtures recover from drought stress.
William Hagan Brown was awarded the bursary in 2023. Based at the University of Plymouth and conducting research at the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research Free-Air Carbon Enrichment (BIFoR FACE) facility, William used the award to help fund his research on the impact of climate change on the forest canopy temperatures.
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