Monica Cole and Henrietta Hutton Research Grants
Four grants of £1000 are offered annually to undergraduate and Masters students undertaking original overseas field research.
About the Award
Born in 1922, Monica Cole was a leader in the field of geo-botany. She held the position of Chair of Geography at Bedford College for many years. Shortly after her retirement in 1975, she received the Society's Murchison Medal for major contributions to the geography of South Africa and to the understanding of savannas.
The Henrietta Hutton Memorial Fund was established in 1964, in memory of Henrietta Hutton, née Cooke, a University of Oxford student of Lady Margaret Hall. Henrietta was a keen ornithologist, Chair of the Oxford Ornithologist Society and a founding member of the University of Oxford Women's Exploration Club.
Four awards of £1,000 are offered:
- Two for physical geography (one undergraduate and one Masters, supported by the Monica Cole Bequest)
- Two for projects with a significant social or environmental focus (one undergraduate and one Masters, supported by the Henrietta Hutton Memorial Fund)
Applicants should be undertaking an independent field research project. Where the applicant is part of a larger, organised expedition, it should be made clear how the applicant’s field research is distinct from that of the wider project. Applicants should show strong evidence of host country participation.
Applicants must be registered at a UK Higher Education Institution.
How to Apply
Applications to this award require the following:
- A completed application form
- A one-page CV
- Two references
If you have any questions about the award, including the eligibility and funding restrictions, conditions or application process, please contact the Grants Officer at grants@rgs.org
Application form and CV
To apply for this award, please complete our online application form by 11.59pm on 23 November:
You will need to sign in to your RGS account, or create an account if you have not previously accessed our website. Once logged in, navigate to My Grants on the left-hand side of your account dashboard.
To preview the online application fields, please download our template application form.
As part of your application, please upload:
- Required: A one-page CV detailing relevant training, qualifications, and experience, submitted as a PDF. The file name should follow the format SURNAME_CV.
- Optional: Up to two A4 pages of relevant maps and figures, submitted as a PDF. The file name should follow the format SURNAME_Figures and Maps.
Please do not send other supporting documents, as these will not be considered when your application is reviewed.
You can save your application and return to it before submitting. If you leave the application before submitting it, the portal will return you to the same place when you next log in.
References
The Society uses a short reference form to reduce the burden on referees and reviewers.
Please arrange for two referees to each complete the reference form. Each referee must submit their completed form directly to the Society by email to grants@rgs.org by 11.59pm on 23 November. References submitted by the applicant will not be accepted.
It is your responsibility to ensure that both references are submitted by the deadline. The Society will not contact referees to request completion of the reference form.
Grant application reference form
Previous recipients
2026 recipients
[Monica Cole Research Grant]
Joseph Buchanan (Lancaster University) – Quantifying the surface evolution and lake development on Khumbu Glacier over the past 12 years
Erin Doyle (Aberystwyth University) – Determining the spatial variability in the composition of cryoconite
Lucy Mulligan (University of Bristol) – Understanding snow/glacier algal productivity relative to key abiotic stressors to inform better grade and larger-scale modelling of algal bloom formation and propagation
Katie McGhie (University of Edinburgh) – Studying grainsize distribution of the Campanian Ignimbrite PDC and co-PDC deposits to model plumes and ash dispersal from large eruptions
[Henrietta Hutton Research Grant]
Ruaraidh Lockett (University of Newcastle) - Understanding arboreal mammal habitat usage and the impacts of mining in tropical forest habitats
Sarah Lill (University of Glasgow) - Assessing Intertidal Macroalgal Communities and Ecological Status Using Functional Trait-Based Indices (EEI-c) in Skálanes, Iceland
Rebecca Askins-Gast (University College London) - European Badger population dynamics: Integrating spatial analysis and field surveys to support conservation action in rural Ireland
Sadie Shaw (Oxford Brookes University) - Studying the abundance of immature green turtles in relation to seagrass biomass
2025 recipients
[Monica Cole Research Grant]
Elena Buermann (University of Cambridge) - Understanding Climate Variability in the Mountains: Tree-Ring Reconstructions from the Pamir-Alay Mountains, Central Asia
Bethan Evans (Aberystwyth University) - Rapid quantification of surface meltwater discharge on Alpine glaciers using drone photography
Benjamin Johnson (University of Bristol) - Glacier Algal Sampling Strategies (GLASS)
Peter Santarius (University of Cambridge) - Tree-Ring Analysis of ENSO-Driven Spring Precipitation Patterns in the Pamir-Alay Mountain system of Tajikistan
[Henrietta Hutton Research Grant]
Julian Chhatralia (University College London) - Investigating the Effects of Wildfires Regimes on Spatio-Temporal Movement Patterns and Habitat Utilisation in Wild Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in a Fire-Prone Environment
Sara Pastina (University of Oxford) - Climate-Resilient Agroforestry in Quilombola Communities of the Brazilian Amazon
Gabrielle Pengyu Shao (University College London) - Assessing Ecosystem Restoration in a Chinese Wetland Reserve: A Study of Land Use Transformation from Waste Land to Wetland
2024 recipients
[Monica Cole Research Grant]
Jennifer Snell (Newcastle University) - The response and recovery of the glacier, proglacial lakes, and river system at Skeiðarárjökull, to the December 2021 jökulhlaup
Joshua Abrahams (University of Leeds) - The Impact of Wind Direction Variability on Glacier Melt
[Henrietta Hutton Research Grant]
Kendall Jefferys (University of Oxford) - The role of functional traits and vegetation cover in structuring plantpollinator networks in the Brazilian Cerrado
Pasha Taylor (University of Cambridge) - ‘Our National Park’- Positioning the Local Community in a National Movement, Observations from Cahuita, Costa Rica
2023 recipients
[Monica Cole Research Grant]
Gwyneth Rivers (Sheffield Hallam University) - Using transverse ridge morphometry to understand ice sheets in high spatiotemporal resolution
[Henrietta Hutton Research Grant]
Innes Manders (Univerity of St Andrews) - Mapping Mountain Woodlands in Norway, and applications in reforesting the Western Highlands of Scotland
Michelle Taylor (University of Abderdeen) - Investigating the diversity and function of an understudied marine ecosystem: novel insights into Caribbean coral rubble beds
2022 recipients
[Monica Cole Research Grant]
Maike Nowatzki (University of Oxford) - Exploring morphological drivers of dunefields in southern Africa using deep learning, satellite imagery, and field-based approaches
Lucy Weidner (University of Edinburgh)
Diana Jerome (University of Edinburgh) - The effect of forest management and climate change on boreal shrubs
[Henrietta Hutton Research Grant]
Jasmine Brown (University of Glasgow) - Investigation into the abundance, distribution, richness and evenness of invertebrates in several habitat types
Holly Elgar (University of Essex) - Conducting baseline assessment for new seagrass conservation area
Aavika Dhanda (University of Oxford) - Evaluating the impacts of land-use land-cover changes on eastern Indian Himalayan birds
2021 recipients
[Monica Cole Research Grant]
Velveth Perez (University of Glasgow) - A geological and geographical study of Ljótipollur’s violent eruption: what to learn from the past and how to prepare for the future
Sarah Easter (Aberystwyth University) - Investigation into contaminant transport, mineral-microbe interaction and geochemistry within temperate glacier surfaces
[Henrietta Hutton Research Grant]
Dominic Phillips (University of Southampton) - Investigating the effects of fragmentation and environmental change on tropical montane Lepidoptera
Sophie Plant (University of Glasgow) - Investigating intraspecific variation in geochemical tracers of past bleaching in the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System
2020 recipients
[Monica Cole Research Grant]
Lauren Rawlins (University of York) - Investigation into microchannel networks on the Greenland Ice Sheet
[Henrietta Hutton Research Grant]
Natalie Anderson (University of York) - Pemba Island’s Unexpectedly Resilient Reefs
Oliver Baines (University of Nottingham) - Does geodiversity buffer biodiversity? Spatiotemporal geodiversity–biodiversity relationships in the Arctic (awarded but unable to take up)