The John Ray Trust invites nominations for a prize of £250 for the best research project undertaken by an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge in a field that John Ray would have been interested in. In considering applications, the Trust will place special importance on the research project’s relevance to John Ray’s interests and the layperson’s summary.

Eligibility: those who are registered undergraduates (normally finalists) in the University of Cambridge at the closing date of the application are eligible.

Application Deadline: 31 July each year

Date of Notification: End of August each year

Conditions of the award: The winner must attend an award ceremony in person in Braintree, Essex (where John Ray himself was schooled) in late September, and give a talk at a local Braintree school about their experience of studying science at Cambridge. Reasonable travel expenses will be paid.

Application Procedure

All documents outlined below should be sent directly by email to the John Ray Trust and its administrator by the deadline (details are on the application form). The email address is johnraytrust@outlook.com

1. From the project supervisor / Director of Studies

A nomination letter from the project supervisor should be sent directly to the John Ray Trust (at the email as above). If your project was performed independently, nominations should come instead from your Director of Studies, or supervisor in the most relevant discipline.

2. From the nominated student

The nominated student should send the following to the John Ray Trust.

• a completed nomination form (see below to download), signed and scanned as a PDF.
• an electronic copy of the dissertation. If the file is large, we ask that you use an on-line file delivery service (e.g. “yousendit”).
• a PDF of a summary of the project, its scientific significance, and its relevance to John Ray’s interests, clearly written and intelligible to a non-scientific audience, of up to 800 words. Supporting figures may be included. The Trust reserves the right to upload these reports onto its website.

In considering applications, the Trust will place special importance on the research project’s relevance to John Ray’s interests and the layperson’s summary.