Animal Welfare Student Scholarships

Applications are welcome from undergraduate or MSc students who are interested in carrying out a project in animal welfare and who are studying at a UFAW LINK university/institute OR supervised by someone at a UFAW LINK.

Please visit the UFAW LINK webpage for further information about the scheme, including details of who to contact if your university/institute is not currently part of the scheme but would be interested in applying to join.

Please note: PhD students are NOT eligible to apply.

Projects may be carried out anywhere in the world. If the location of the study is not at the university or institute where the student is enrolled, confirmation is needed from the study host.

The project must be relevant to improving or assessing the welfare of farm, companion, laboratory, or zoo animals, or free-living wild animals whose welfare is compromised by human factors. The projects will be relatively small, due to their short duration and the early career stage of the students.

Student Scholarships consist of £250 per week subsistence allowance for the Scholar (paid to the student directly) plus £100 per week project expenses (paid to the host university/organisation).

Although typically completed during July-September, projects may be carried out at any time during the year of application and usually last 4 to 8 weeks. Support is provided for up to 8 weeks, although projects themselves may be longer than this.

Funds are normally paid by cheque, in GBP sterling, to applicants residing in the United Kingdom (UK) and by bank transfer to applicants outside of the UK.

Please note that sometimes for reasons beyond our control, such as international sanctions, UFAW may not be able to make certain awards.

Scholars are asked to report on their project once completed, and to present their research findings at the Annual Scholars Meeting held online – usually in December or January.

We aim for the meeting to be relatively small, as for many it will be their first public scientific presentation, and a safe atmosphere is aimed for.

For Information about past meetings see Past UFAW events, reports and details. 

The UFAW Animal Welfare Student Scholarship is an annual Scholarship award that is open for application every September/October, with a closing date of 28 February the following year.

When open, interested students are invited to submit an application form online. The form is divided into sections and asks for the following information: details about the student and their current course (including a copy of their CV), details about the supervisor(s) who will be supervising the student for the duration of their project, and a description of the proposed project (including location, dates, and implications for animal welfare).

To apply for a Scholarship, please complete an online application form:

An assessment panel may select one of the high-quality projects addressing the welfare of farmed animals to be awarded the Ruth Harrison Student Scholarship. This scholarship has been established with the support of the Farm Animal Care Trust (FACT), and is in memory of Ruth Harrison, whose tireless work at the Trust, and seminal book, ‘Animal Machines’, led to reform and long-lasting improvements in farm animal welfare.

The first UFAW Animal Welfare Student Scholarships were awarded in 1983 and since the scheme began there have been over 450 scholars.

The range of projects that have been undertaken has been very wide, and in some cases scholars have published papers arising from their work in scientific literature. A full list of past scholars can be viewed here.

For many scholars, the UFAW Animal Welfare Student Scholarships have also been a successful launch pad for a career in animal welfare science, with many going onto to supervise scholars themselves.