Scholarship helps in fight against pests and plastic

The PhD student is researching how to create biodegradable pest mammal monitoring products while also coming up with environmentally friendly ways to reduce the amount of plastic pollution that comes from monitoring and control operations.

She said the idea for it came while doing her Master of Pest Management degree, "after noticing how much plastic I was using during my field studies and wondering what could be done to reduce it".

The financial help she gets from the scholarship means the effort she would have had to put into paying her bills can go into her research.

The scholarship has helped me by allowing me to spend time researching and purchasing biodegradable materials that are now being trialled and will hopefully become marketable products.

The scholarship's stipend value is $28,000 per annum, and it also covers fees.

• Other scholarships for doctoral students include the Lincoln University Doctoral Scholarships, the Lincoln University Aoraki Doctoral Scholarship for Māori and the BK Otway Education Foundation Doctoral Scholarship.
• Applications for 2023 close on 1 October.