Our Scholars

Since 1947, we have awarded over 1,000 scholarships to those working in the food, farming, horticulture and rural industries. Our Scholars travel across the globe to learn from leading experts and farmers before bringing their knowledge back to the UK to share at home. With study topics ranging from hill farming to global trading markets (and everything in between), Nuffield Farming Scholars all share passion for what they do, a desire to do things better and a head full of questions…

Get acquainted with our most recent Scholars and their study topics by clicking below…

  • Meet Amy Stoner

    I grew up in rural Oxfordshire, but now live in Rutland with my partner Dan. We have a small sheep flock and an allotment, which keeps us busy outside of work.

  • Meet Annie Williams

    I grew up in rural Lincolnshire, but moved around a lot during my twenties, primarily to study at University of Liverpool, University of Nottingham and Harper Adams University.

  • Meet Cormac White

    Having been born and raised in Belfast, a career in agriculture was an unlikely path but a winding one through Veterinary Medicine led to a passion for the agricultural industry and sustainable food production.

  • Meet Dan Jones

    I grew up on a small family farm on The Isle of Anglesey. I quickly realised my goal in life was to run my own sheep farm.

  • Meet Dan Smith

    Built on strong foundations from a farming upbringing in the UK, I have a soil-up understanding of the complexities facing rural and environmental industries alongside global social challenges.

  • Meet David Tavenor

    I grew up on a dairy farm in Shropshire and studied agribusiness management at Newcastle University. After 6 years of being a supermarket buyer, I became disillusioned and returned back to the family farm.

  • Meet Gwion Parry

    I grew up on family farm in the Llyn Peninsula, North Wales where along with my parents we farm a pedigree, performance recorded Stabiliser herd and a early lambing sheep flock.

  • Meet Harry Winslet

    Growing up in Central London, my childhood couldn’t have been spent in an environment more geographically or societally distant from the Cambridgeshire farm that I have spent the last five years getting to know.

  • Meet Hattie McFadzean

    My journey centers my passion for combining climate science with my love of agriculture and the environment. Whilst my parents both left their family farms to pursue other careers, agriculture has always been key to my upbringing and culture.

  • Meet Ifan Roberts

    Having grown up on a family farm in North Wales, I knew from an early age that I had a real passion for both dairy farming and business.

  • Meet Jamie Stokes

    As a third generation arable farmer, ending up running the family farm was pretty much written in the stars from day one. After studying Agriculture at Reading University, I joined the Royal Agricultural Society of England as an Arable Specialist.

  • Meet Laura Awdry

    Growing up on a deer farm in Mid Canterbury, New Zealand, I originally never saw myself pursuing a career in Agriculture but fast-forward in time and I now farm in partnership with my husband on a Duchy of Cornwall farm tenancy running beef, arable and also wor

  • Meet Liz Haines

    After studying English at University, I began a career in book publishing, specialising in Autism and Special Educational Needs. I made the leap into dairy farming in 2013 with my husband, when we took on a Contract Farming opportunity in Shropshire.

  • Meet Lucy George

    I returned to my roots in South Wales to run the family farm a year or so after completing a BSc Business Management (Agri-Food) at RAU.  The farm had always focused on soft fruit and ice cream production but I started diversifying into organic tea producti

  • Meet Natalie Hepburn

    Born in Kent, I grew up in a non-farming family. Following a degree in Chemistry at Swansea University and then a PhD at Cardiff University, I worked in scientific/medical research for a number of years.

  • Meet Polly Hilton

    In 2015, whilst studying for a Masters in Sustainable & Efficient Food Production, I Founded Find & Foster Fine Ciders to help safeguard the future of traditional orchards in Devon.

  • Meet Saba Amir

    My route into agriculture has been quite unconventional and started with me being awarded a PhD scholarship in 2017 to study gut health of chickens.

  • Meet Sam Watson-Jones

    I grew up on a family arable farm in Shropshire. I spent seven years working on and managing the farm full time, but I was troubled at how far behind farming was in its adoption of truly digital technologies when compared to other sectors.

  • Meet Tom Scrope

    I grew up on a small farm on the edge of the North York Moors. I had a bit of a potted journey back to agriculture, having studied Philosophy at university and then trained as a Chartered Accountant down in London.

  • Meet Wallace Currie

    I was brought up on a beef and sheep farm on the Isle of Arran based on the islands only volcano, Ard Bhienn!  The enterprise comprised of about 630 breeding ewes with the full