News Release

New overseas scholarship named in honor of distinguished Indian botanist

Grant and Award Announcement

John Innes Centre

Janaki Ammal -- Scholarship Scheme

image: The new John Innes Centre scholarship scheme was named after Janaki Ammal. view more 

Credit: John Innes Centre

A new scheme to support postgraduate students from developing countries is announced today by the John Innes Centre.

The Janaki Ammal Scholarship Scheme will make awards to post-graduate research applicants from 88 eligible countries who wish to study plant and microbial sciences at the John Innes Centre.

The scheme has been set up to reduce the financial impact of UK tuition fees on international students from less developed and lower income countries.

International fees can prohibit students from many countries and this fund aims to enable outstanding students from a wide range of eligible countries to study at the John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, UK

The scholarships are named in honour of Dr Janaki Ammal (1897-1984), one of the first women from India to obtain a PHD in Botany. Dr Ammal worked at the John Innes Horticultural Institution first in the 1930s and then between 1940 and 1945.

Her research led to the publication of the Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants, which she wrote jointly with the then director, C.D Darlington.

Announcing the scheme, Director of the John Innes Centre, Professor Dale Sanders, said: "At the John Innes Centre, we strive for a level playing field on which all students compete on scientific merit, irrespective of nationality, economic status or gender."

"For this reason we've established this mechanism to support students from low income countries with their tuition fees.

"We take great pride in our international alumni - none more so than Janaki Ammal - and we are delighted to name this new scheme in her honour."

The award covers the difference between the Overseas and UK/EU lab-based postgraduate research tuition fees (a difference of £13,805 for the 2017/18 academic year) for students studying at the John Innes Centre.

It applies to graduate students from the least developed, low income or lower middle income countries as defined by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic-Cooperation and Development (OECD).This includes sub-Saharan African countries and India, but excludes middle income countries such as China and many Latin American countries.

The scholarship scheme applies automatically to eligible students, there is no additional application form and the academic recruitment criteria of the John Innes Centre will not be adjusted in any way. Students will continue to be recruited on scientific and academic merit.

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For further details: http://www.jic.ac.uk/training-careers/postgraduate-research/janaki-ammal-scholarships/

Background information:

Notes for Editors

Contacts

Press Contact: Adrian Galvin - Adrian.Galvin@jic.ac.uk

Tel: 01603 450238 Out of Hours Tel: 07881 255193

About the John Innes Centre

The John Innes Centre is an independent, international centre of excellence in plant science and microbiology.

Our mission is to generate knowledge of plants and microbes through innovative research, to train scientists for the future, to apply our knowledge of nature's diversity to benefit agriculture, the environment, human health, and wellbeing, and engage with policy makers and the public.

To achieve these goals we establish pioneering long-term research objectives in plant and microbial science, with a focus on genetics. These objectives include promoting the translation of research through partnerships to develop improved crops and to make new products from microbes and plants for human health and other applications. We also create new approaches, technologies and resources that enable research advances and help industry to make new products. The knowledge, resources and trained researchers we generate help global societies address important challenges including providing sufficient and affordable food, making new products for human health and industrial applications, and developing sustainable bio-based manufacturing.

This provides a fertile environment for training the next generation of plant and microbial scientists, many of whom go on to careers in industry and academia, around the world.

The John Innes Centre is strategically funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). In 2015-2016 the John Innes Centre received a total of £30.1 million from the BBSRC.

The John Innes Centre is also supported by the John Innes Foundation through provision of research accommodation and long-term support of the Rotation PhD programme.

The John Innes Centre is the winner of the BBSRC's 2013 - 2016 Excellence with Impact award.

For more information about the John Innes Centre visit our website http://www.jic.ac.uk

About the BBSRC

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) invests in world-class bioscience research and training on behalf of the UK public. Our aim is to further scientific knowledge, to promote economic growth, wealth and job creation and to improve quality of life in the UK and beyond.

Funded by Government, BBSRC invested over £473M in world-class bioscience in 2015-16. We support research and training in universities and strategically funded institutes. BBSRC research and the people we fund are helping society to meet major challenges, including food security, green energy and healthier, longer lives. Our investments underpin important UK economic sectors, such as farming, food, industrial biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

For more information about BBSRC, our science and our impact see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk

For more information about BBSRC strategically funded institutes see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/institutes


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