export hay being cut and bailed on farm

Nuffield Scholarships

 

AgriFutures Australia is committed to supporting the people who are driving, and will drive, the future prosperity of Australian rural industries and communities. We do this by investing in leadership, capacity and skills development programs for our stakeholders.

 

Established in 1951, Nuffield Australia is a leading agricultural scholarship organisation, building capacity for producers, their businesses, industry and rural communities. AgriFutures is offering stakeholders the opportunity to participate to apply for a sponsored position in the Nuffield Scholarship program. The successful applicant will receive $65,000 to travel overseas and study innovative farming practices.

 

Applications for 2027 are now closed.

About the Program

Designed for: Emerging leaders in agriculture and food systems.
Course commencement date: Commences early each year.
Duration: Approximately 18 months.
Location: Delivered globally.

A Nuffield Australia Scholarship provides a unique opportunity to stand back from your day-to-day occupation, and to study a subject of interest to you.

The objective is to increase practical farming knowledge and management skills and techniques generally. These scholarships give Australian citizens the opportunity to study farming practices in New Zealand, Europe, Asia and the Americas and those countries best suited to the scholar. They will also promote a closer understanding between farmers in the countries visited.

Upon returning to Australia, it is expected that scholars will be able to actively spread the knowledge and understanding they have gained among their fellow farmers and others. In addition to the scholarship itself, Scholars are welcomed into a global network – over 500 Nuffield Scholars in Australia and almost 2,000 worldwide.

Find out more about Nuffield Scholarships

AgriFutures sponsored scholars

A woman in a blue blouse with lace details leans on a wooden fence, smiling, with trees and a field in the background.

Bec Fing

2027 AgriFutures sponsored Nuffield Australia Scholar

View profile
Close
A woman in a blue blouse with lace details leans on a wooden fence, smiling, with trees and a field in the background.

Bec Fing

2027 AgriFutures sponsored Nuffield Australia Scholar

House Paddock Training and Consulting

NSW’s Bec Fing wants the farming community to treat workplace safety not as a box to tick, but a culture to lead.

Flipping the narrative, Bec from House Paddock Training and Consulting in Boggabilla wants safety on farms to be seen differently, especially, she says, as farm death rates continue to occur at unacceptable levels. While agriculture employs just 3 per cent of the workforce, it accounts for almost 30 per cent of workplace fatalities.

She’s spent two decades working with farming businesses and has been on 600 farms, and there’s not much she hasn’t seen. But she’s grounded. It’s culture, not compliance, and people, not paperwork, that will see change happen.

Too often, Bec says, farm safety is seen as important, not urgent. She acknowledges that farms are complex workplaces, but at the same time, unsafe behaviours continue to be accepted unless there is a change of culture, where risky actions or shortcuts are called out.

Her study, “Beyond compliance: How leadership and culture influence safety outcomes in Australian farming,” will take her to farming communities across Japan, New Zealand, and Scandinavia. By looking at these low-fatality regions, she will investigate how proactive safety culture reduces workplace risk in agriculture.

Eligibility and Essential Requirements

Eligibility

To be eligible for a Nuffield Scholarship, you must be:

  • Typically between 28-45 years of age (Please note that exceptional candidates outside this age range will be considered).
  • A citizen or permanent resident of Australia
  • Engaged in farming, horticulture, fishing or associated industries
  • Intending to remain involved in food and fibre industries in Australia.

To be eligible for an AgriFutures-funded Scholarship, you must also be:

  • An engaged member of one of the following industries:
    • Chicken Meat
    • Export Fodder
    • Thoroughbred Horses
    • Honey Bee & Pollination
    • Rice
    • Pasture Seeds
    • Ginger
    • Tea Tree Oil
    • Kangaroo
    • Buffalo
    • Goat Fibre
    • Deer
  • An engaged member of — and intending to remain involved in —an emerging Australian agricultural industry (e.g. coffee, hazelnut, industrial hemp, insects, crocodile, seaweed/algae, sesame, truffle, or other up-and-coming rural industries).

Essential Requirements

One or two industry participant/s (from a levied industry or an emerging industry) will be sponsored by AgriFutures Australia to complete the program (valued at ~$65,000 per position). The position is not transferable. Participants are required to complete the course assessment and provide evidence of completion to AgriFutures.

You’ll need to be able to commit 18 months to the program, which will require some periods of international travel.

Contact

Enquiries about AgriFutures-supported positions

For questions about eligibility, funding support, or the AgriFutures application process, please contact:

Sarah Hope
Manager, Capacity Building

Hannah Keely
Coordinator, Capacity Building

Information about the Nuffield Scholarship program

For program details, structure, and delivery of the program, visit the Nuffield Australia website:

Click here for more information about the Nuffield Scholarship Program