AgriFutures Horizon Scholarship applications open today

The AgriFutures Horizon Scholarship is a collaboration between many of the Research and Development Corporations (RDC’s), along with Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia and FMC Australasia to provide eligible university students with a $10,000 bursary over two years and plenty of opportunities to develop their leadership skills and expand their networks. As part of the Program, students also attend an annual four-day professional development workshop and complete two weeks of industry work placements per year.

The Horizon Scholarship Program is open to students studying agriculture-related or STEM degrees with major studies and/or subject selections that align to agriculture.

AgriFutures Australia Managing Director, John Harvey says that collaboration across a broad range of disciplines will be crucial to the growth of our rural industries and is excited to see the Horizon Scholarship Program evolve to meet this need.

“Our cohorts are no longer made up solely of ag students from traditional farming backgrounds. We now have scholars studying engineering, law, business and animal science,” said Mr Harvey.

“We have scholars who have never set foot on a farm in the same room as fifth-generation farmers, and this diversity in backgrounds and thinking is beginning to elevate the conversations beyond anything we’ve seen before.”

This was the experience for former Horizon Scholar and current Fullbright Scholar, Ali Gill.

“The Horizon Scholarship was pivotal in igniting my passion for plant science and agriculture. Unlike many of the other scholars, I did not grow up on a farm, nor do I have relatives in agricultural careers. I had big ambitions to be a leader, but did not have much of an understanding of agriculture at the time.

“The yearly Horizon Scholarship Workshop were not only an unparalleled opportunity for networking, but also exponentially increased my agricultural knowledge base,” said Ms Gill.

The diverse range of industry sponsors involved in the Horizons Scholarship program represents the desire to build prosperous and sustainable rural industries. To do this, there is a need to build the skills, capacity, leadership and knowledge of the future rural leaders of Australian agriculture.

“Creating a platform for students to collaborate across traditional and emerging areas of agriculture will create a platform of networking, idea creation and forward thinking that is invaluable to the rural industries of the future and I thank all of the industry sponsors who recognise the value and importance of the investment into future leaders.

“Australian Eggs, Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia (CRCNA), Dairy Australia, Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), Hort Innovation, FMC Australasia and the AgriFutures Thoroughbred Horses, Rice and Emerging Industries Programs are all sponsors of the Horizon Scholarship program, and our scholars have seen first-hand the benefits associated with having such valuable industry connections,” said Mr Harvey.

To be eligible to apply students must:

• Be an Australian citizen or permanent resident
• Be studying an undergraduate degree at an Australian university
• Be entering the final two years of their degree in 2022.

Scholarship recipients will be selected on the basis of their commitment to a career in agriculture, as well as their leadership potential and tertiary academic record to date.

Applications close Friday, 14 January 2022 at midnight AEDT. Shortlisted applicants must be available for a telephone interview in February 2022, and scholarship winners will be announced in April 2022.