Scholarships
The Peter Waite Centenary Scholarship for Excellence in Agriculture
“We have now reached a point where it behoves us to call science to our aid to a greater extent than has hitherto has been done, otherwise we cannot hope to keep in the forefront.”
Peter Waite, explaining his philanthropic gift of the land for the Waite Campus, 1913
In 2013, we celebrated the centenary of the letter of intent from Peter Waite who donated his Urrbrae estate to The University of Adelaide for the study of agriculture. This gift has enabled the education of leaders in the field and made a significant contribution to agricultural science research in this state, the country and the world.
The University is proud of the outcomes that it has delivered as a result of this philanthropic gift. Currently in a diminishing tertiary educational agricultural sector in Australia, The University of Adelaide is recognised as a leader nationally and the Waite Campus is recognised internationally as a campus of excellence.
Given its rich history of success, the Waite Campus is poised to contribute positively to major problems including meeting the challenge of ensuring global food security and providing Australia’s agricultural, wine and food industries with innovative, research-led developments.
To celebrate this transformational gift we propose to establish the Peter Waite Centenary Scholarship for Agricultural Excellence. To match the bold vision of Peter Waite this will be a research-based scholarship and one which will be recognised nationally for the excellence it enables. The University will be inviting significant individuals and commercial entities to join together to contribute to the scholarship so that it becomes one offered in perpetuity as a fitting tribute to the outstanding philanthropic vision of Peter Waite.
This scholarship is aimed to support an outstanding future leader in agriculture through their PhD studies in the area of plants or soil science. Providing $30,000 per annum to support living, educational, research and travel costs, the Peter Waite Scholarship for Excellence in Agriculture is aimed to attract and retain the best young people in the industry. It is envisaged that this will become a scholarship of national and international profile rewarding the best international candidates and placing them at the Waite Campus for their studies.
While rewarding academic excellence, the Peter Waite Scholarship for Excellence in Agriculture will also recognise and foster those outstanding young people who have contributed to their community outside of academic areas and have the ability to provide leadership in the agricultural industry at the international level.
There has been a warm response to the launch of the Peter Waite Centenary Scholarship for Excellence in Agriculture and the University is still seeking donations to reach a target of $600,000 which can support the scholarship in perpetuity. The SA Grains Industry Trust has kindly provided the first 5 years of support to allow the University time to develop the funds to support the scholarship in perpetuity. This has meant that James Walter commenced his PhD in 2015 as the first recipient of a Waite Scholarship.
We invite you to join us on this journey of excellence through a significant contribution to the scholarship which in turn will have an impact on the University’s ability to develop research for the growth of the economy of our state and nation.
The donation form can be found here.