Frederick Soddy Postgraduate Award

About the Award

Born in 1877, Frederick Soddy was a Nobel Prize winning atomic scientist, who later in his life developed economic and sociological interests.

Frederick Soddy was one of the early pioneers of what today is considered ‘interdisciplinary research’. Through the foundations of the Frederick Soddy Trust, he sought to encourage research that would provide a holistic view of an area, environment, or community encompassing elements of both human and physical geography. Applicants are encouraged to make clear how their research relates to this specific objective, and are expected to engage with both physical and human geographical components in their projects.

The Frederick Soddy Postgraduate Award was established in 2010 and was previously administered by the Society on behalf of the Frederick Soddy Trust. The award is open to individual PhD students or teams of PhD students. One or two awards are given every year.

In 2018 the Frederick Soddy Trust became a linked charity of the Society, creating a new set of grants, the Frederick Soddy Awards, to support school and student fieldwork and expeditions.

All prospective grant applicants are encouraged to read our Advice and Resources pages, which include more information about the grants programme, its conditions, how to apply for a grant and what is expected if your application is successful. Please read this information carefully and send your application, or any enquiries, by email to grants@rgs.org.